Wesley Tucker, Denice Ferguson and Mary Sobba and Integrated Marketing Communications Director Robert Jones University of Missouri Extension Agricultural Business Specialists Every Missouri farmer understands a basic truth. A good harvest does not happen by chance. It takes planning, preparation and decisions made long before crops ever emerge from the soil. Farm succession works the same way. Across Missouri, farm families are entering a season of transition that will shape not only individual operations but also the future of rural communities and the state’s agricultural economy. For many families, the question is no longer if transition will happen, but how and whether the next generation will be ready to step in when the time comes. The urgency is real. An estimated 70% of U.S. farmland will change hands in the next 20 years. At the same time, agricultural census data show farmers age 65 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the farm population, now representing…