Decorah family profiled in new book just released by the University of Iowa Press

More than 25 farmland owners--including one Decorah couple--are featured in a new book, "The Future of Family Farms: Practical Farmers' Legacy Letters Project," just published by the University of Iowa Press.
 
Included in the book is the story of Dale Nimrod of Decorah, whose mother raised her three children on their Southwest Iowa farm after their father died. Dale deeply appreciates the support the small town of Stanton and the local church gave the family.

Years later, Dale and Sunny Nimrod decided the best way to pay back the community was to, as Dale says, "find a nice young family who would appreciate the land, the community and the church and would invest themselves in caring for all three."
 
Finding the right family involved sleuthing and then putting together a generous and innovative financing plan. "It is a misperception, I think, that selling to the highest bidder is the only way to be fair when disposing of property," Dale says.

Much of America's farmland is owned by those ages 65 and older, so the book hopes to encourage farmers to think seriously about the legacy they want to leave.

More information about the book is available at www.uiowapress.org/books/2016-fall.  Information about writing your own farm legacy letter is available at www.practicalfarmers/org/farmtransfer.