Written by Robert Moore

Every year, OSU Extension brings farm families together to tackle one of the most important, and often most difficult, tasks in agriculture: planning for the future of the family farm. Our “Planning for the Future of Your Farm” workshops help families navigate farm succession, estate planning, and strategies for ensuring that the farm continues across generations.

For 2025–2026, OSU Extension is offering three learning formats to meet the needs of busy farm families:

1. A new asynchronous online course (work at your own pace)
2. A live Zoom webinar series in March 2026
3. In-person workshops across Ohio in 2025 & 2026

Whether you are beginning the planning process or fine-tuning an existing transition strategy, these programs provide critical information, tools, and structure to help families move forward.

Why Attend?

Transition planning is more than paperwork, it’s a family conversation about goals, legacy, and the future of the business. Our workshops challenge families to think strategically and communicate openly about succession, while providing the legal and financial tools necessary to make informed decisions.

Teaching the program are:

• David Marrison, OSU Extension Farm Management Field Specialist
• Robert Moore, Attorney/Research Specialist , OSU Agricultural & Resource Law Program

Topics Covered

Throughout the workshop series and online course, participants will learn how to:

• Develop estate and succession planning goals
• Plan for the transition of management and control
• Communicate effectively and manage family conflict
• Understand legal tools and strategies for farm transition
• Build a professional advisory team
• Get personal and business affairs organized

Schedule and Registration

The four-part live webinar series will be offered on:

March 2, 9, 16 & 23, 2026
6:00–8:00 p.m. via Zoom
Cost: $99 per family

Registration is available at farmoffice.osu.edu

Registration for the asynchronous program is available here.  Full access to the course videos and materials is $149.

The times and locations of the in-person programs are as follows:

• December 11 & 17, 2025 – Lorain County (6:00 to 9:00 p.m.)
• January 14 & 21, 2026 – Logan County (6:00 to 9:00 p.m.)
• February 9 & 16, 2026 – Muskingum County (6:00 to 9:00 p.m.)
• March 3 & 17, 2026 – Washington County (6:00 to 9:00 p.m.)
• March 18 & 26, 2026  – Morrow County (5:00 to 9:00 p.m.)
• December 1 & 8, 2026 – Madison County (6:00 to 9:00 p.m.)

Contact the hosting OSU Extension office to register.

For more information or questions, contact David Marrison (Marrison.2@osu.edu) or Robert Moore (moore.301@osu.edu ).

Written by Peggy Kirk Hall, Attorney and Director, Agricultural & Resource Law Program

The Ohio General Assembly wrapped up its legislative session for the year last week, with much of the late-session energy given to property tax relief.  The legislature focused on strategies for reducing Ohio property taxes in five bills it just sent to the Governor (see our earlier post).  None of the bills addressed farmland taxation, however.  But a bill the legislature might consider when it returns in 2026 does propose changes to Ohio’s Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV) Program for farmland property taxes.  H.B. 575, introduced by Rep. David Thomas (R-Jefferson) and Bob Peterson (R-Sabina) proposes a number of revisions to the CAUV program.

H.B. 575 doesn’t propose reductions to CAUV taxes, however.  Instead, the bill contains changes to how the CAUV program works.  The bill is consistent with plans in Ohio’s House for continuing to address property taxes.  Rep. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee where H.B. 575 now sits, stated that the five recently passed bills represented most of the “big structural changes” to property taxation and that the legislature’s future focus will be on “fairness and efficiency.”  Sponsor Rep. Thomas agreed, stating that “the changes that need to happen now are about the process, helping taxpayers through the process and transparency.”  Process and transparency are two themes in H.B. 575’s revisions.  Here’s what the bill proposes to change about Ohio’s CAUV program.

Process changes:

• Removes the annual renewal requirement for CAUV.  A landowner would not have to submit a renewal each year after initial approval to enroll in the CAUV program.
• Requires county auditors to provide for electronic filing of CAUV enrollment applications.
• Allows a single operation with non-contiguous land in two or more counties to file one application for all parcels in the county where a majority of the land exists.
• Requires that property tax bills separately state the “CAUV savings” for the parcel.
• Mandates that a county auditor must provide notice of the soil types and CAUV values to landowners in reappraisal and update years.
• Allows the county auditor to value residential property and wasteland below the CAUV value.

Eligibility changes:

• Authorizes continued CAUV eligibility for tracts or portions lying idle or fallow in the previous year due to state or federal disaster or state of emergency declarations.
• Allows CAUV eligibility for contiguous land that is incidental to the primary use of the land for agricultural purposes, including areas for driveways, access roads, staging, barns, and farm markets.
• States that the CAUV minimum acreage requirement can include non-contiguous tracts that are part of a single operation within one or multiple counties.

While the proposed changes won’t affect the CAUV formula or reduce CAUV taxes, the revisions in H.B. 575 do solve many of the fairness and efficiency problems we see with Ohio’s CAUV program.  But it may take legislators a while to get to the CAUV bill.  It’s one of dozens of bills waiting for consideration by the House Ways & Means Committee. Even so, let’s hope 2026 brings changes to CAUV in the New Year.

Read H.B. 575 on the Ohio General Assembly’s website.