Do You Need an Entity?  July 6, 2011 04:41 AM sowing seed  By
Kenneth J. Fransen  Passing on the family farm requires a
specific business structure.  Most farmers start out as sole
proprietors. You own and operate the farm under your name—it’s
the simplest business structure. The farm might have a name
(such as the Bar XYZ Ranch), but all that means is that you had
to file a form required by your state so you could operate under
that name and obtain protection from someone else using that
name. It’s still just you—no muss, no fuss.  Maintaining the
sole proprietor structure makes sense for small farms where the
owner does most of the work and has no one else to take over the
farm.  The purpose of an entity. Most farmers, however, desire
the farm to continue for another generation, and a sole
proprietorship doesn’t work well in that situation. An entity is
required so that percentages of the farm business can be gifted
or sold to those in the next generation who want to farm, while
keeping the farm as a single