Recognizing the growing importance of farm transition issues, USDA's Economic Research Service and Oklahoma State University organized a Transitions in Agriculture Conference held in March of 2013, bringing together experts from a number of fields to share their perspectives on transition issues and to start a new conversation on how to address them.

Agricultural transitions are the sum of individual farm family decisions made in changing global markets. When and how farm assets controlled by senior operators will change hands and to whom they will be transferred will affect agricultural productivity and the United States' ability to respond to growing food demand.

Retirement planning is essential to developing a sustainable family farm. Retiring farmers must answer the questions of where to live, what to do, how to fund it, and put the answers against the backdrop of the farm business continuing for the entering generation.

The policy and legal environment provides both incentives and challenges for farm transitions. The barriers to successful farm transition may lie not in a lack of available policies and legal tools, but in the understanding of the available tools and a willingness to deploy them.

In light of interest in tax reform, this article provides an overview of the importance the Internal Revenue Code plays in the farm life cycle, from farm business formation through its dissolution or succession. Major provisions of the tax code as they affect farms businesses are examined.

Lenders' perceptions of risk and returns significantly affect terms of credit. To compensate for higher risk, young and beginning farmers often need to provide more collateral. Tighter credit and rising land prices suggest a shift from high levels of land ownership toward a model more focused on leasing may be emerging for the next generation of farmers.

Social and cultural factors have historically been absent from farm transition research and policy discussions. This article examines how farm family motivations, values, farmer demographics and community level factors including the cost of health care and child care impact farm viability and reproduction.