Client Story · Multigenerational Dairy · Succession

Father To Son, Without The Family Falling Out

A phased buy-in, a pro forma that proved the farm could carry two generations, and organic certification along the way.

“Just having someone to start the succession planning process was invaluable.”

– Matthew Byler, Peachee Farms

Father to son

ownership and leadership, transferred separately

Phased

seller-financed buy-in, not a single handover

April 2025

organic certification achieved

Two households

the business had to support both, and the numbers said it could

30%reach the second generation

4%reach the fourth

Roughly three in ten farms pass successfully from the first generation to the second. By the fourth, fewer than four in a hundred are still in the family. Peachee Farms wanted to beat those odds without losing the family in the process.

Figures from Pinion, not our own research.

Both generations wrote down what they wanted, separately

The work started by getting every goal on the table before anyone discussed structure. Garrett, the son, wanted to start ownership through an LLC, grow his stake, and eventually buy the farmland. His father Matt wanted a sustainable retirement, protection for the land, and to be fair to their other children who were not in the business.

Those are not the same list, and they are not in conflict either. Using a succession goals worksheet, each side clarified what mattered most and where their priorities already aligned. That common ground became the foundation for everything after it.

The plan itself was outlined using a model from Land for Good.

Could the farm actually support two households?

That is the question succession usually skips, and it decides everything. We built a pro forma covering both day-to-day operations and the costs of the transition itself, to find out whether the business could carry two generations at once.

The family had been farming to organic practices for years without certifying, and asked us to vet whether making it official would pay off. When we ran the numbers, certification looked like a significant revenue increase, which changed the shape of the whole plan. The long-term financial model made the transition not just possible but profitable.

Certification came through in April 2025.

Ownership and leadership moved at different speeds

Nothing shifted all at once. We structured a phased buy-in that let Garrett increase his stake gradually through a seller-financed agreement, which gave everyone time to adjust and kept the transition financially manageable.

Then we separated the two things people usually conflate. Garrett stepped into day-to-day decision-making. Matt retained ownership but deferred on management decisions. With the roles and the decision boundaries written down, the family avoided the confusion that derails most handoffs, and the business kept running through it.

“There are too many businesses that struggle through with a lack of planning. We don’t naturally sit down and discuss these things, so it likely would not be going as smoothly without the help of Good Roots. The efficiency and time saving of being guided through the process is worth the cost.”

Matthew Byler, Peachee Farms

Then the parts nobody wants to talk about

Land use. Retirement. Taxes. Inheritance. None of it is the enjoyable part and all of it is load-bearing.

We built a timeline and action plan that separated what the family could handle themselves from what needed a lawyer, an accountant or an estate specialist, and when to bring each one in. That sequencing is the difference between a family feeling guided and a family feeling buried. We stayed as the central coordinator so nothing fell between advisers.

Where it stands

By early 2024 the plan was in motion. Garrett had stepped into operational leadership, payments toward the ownership transfer were underway, and family members felt heard, respected and aligned, which is the part that does not show up in a financial model but decides whether a plan survives.

Succession is not a single moment. If the handoff is the live question on your operation, that is usually where we start, and it starts with the numbers rather than the lawyer.