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Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures

Rachel Armstrong, Erin Hannum, Laura Fisher and, Lisa Schlessinger (2018)

Summary

Establishing and maintaining the right business structure for your farm operation lays the foundation for a stable, resilient farm business. Forming a business structure can help manage risk by protecting the owners’ assets from the business’ liabilities; promote good business practices through accounting and decision-making protocols; raise funds from outside investors; and ease the ownership transition process. For most farmers and ranchers, choosing a structure is straightforward. Complexity arises when drafting organizing documents to support your structure of choice, or, determining how it will operate.