Strategies for the Creation and Transfer of the Farm Estate

This article develops an estate management model that considers interrelationships between estate creation and transfer, as well as the uncertainty of the parent's(s') death. The estate management problem is conceptualized as an adaptive sequential decision problem and the simulation model used in the empirical analysis is briefly reviewed. Empirical results suggest that high growth rate creation and transfer plans which include substantial lifetime gifts are essential elements of high response estate management strategies. Implications for business organization and coordination of the entry and exit processes of farmers are briefly discussed.