Across the country, professionals are helping aging farmers and ranchers make plans for their land. These “Land Transfer Navigators” are securing the future of agriculture one farm, family, and community at a time. In this episode, ride along with Dan Skeeters—a Navigator from Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust—as he supports two different ranching families through the ins and outs of succession planning.

But be warned. Among the tales of triumph are moments of heartbreak: sold-off cattle herds and uncertain futures, lost family land and shattered identities. Dan and other Navigators are right there through it all, offering advice, encouragement, and hope.

Matthew and Althea Raiford didn't plan on becoming farmers. They left their South Georgia town when they were young, pursuing different paths. But eventually, their family’s 150-year-old farming legacy called the two siblings home—only for them to find that their family’s land had been broken up by forces beyond their control. So they got to work.

With creativity, cooperation, and an unrelenting commitment to a place and its people, Matthew, Althea, and others are recovering their land and legacy. Tune in to hear about how they’re honoring the past, securing the future, and fulfilling a new agrarian vision.

As a child, Dustin Watson promised his grandparents that he would keep the family’s farm going. He would care for the land and livestock just like the generations before him. But complex family dynamics, a lack of succession planning, and rising land prices in his rural Virginia community put the farm’s future in jeopardy. Through tired and teary eyes, he saw the end of a legacy closing in.

In this episode, Dustin fights to keep a promise to secure his farming dream—and ensure that his family’s land will remain a farm forever.