“McArthur,” the song by Hardy featuring Tim McGraw, Eric Church and Morgan Wallen, is my new favorite song. It explores family legacy, sacrifice and the heavy emotional weight of holding onto ancestral land across four generations.
Listening to McArthur likely stirs different emotions for different people. For me, it brings back memories of my own family farm and the people who helped shape my connection to agriculture. It also makes me think about the hundreds of farm families I’ve had the privilege of working with over the years.
The song tells the story of a farm family across four generations. It speaks to hard work, sacrifice, war, family, changing values and ultimately, a decision on whether to sell the farm. The song’s repeated, powerful question is: “When you pass on, what are you gonna pass down?”
What are we really passing down?
That’s also the central question for farm families today. When we talk about farm succession, conversations often revolve around assets:
- Who gets the land?
- Who gets the machinery?
- Who gets the livestock?
- How do we handle taxes?
- What does the estate plan look like?
Those questions matter. But I am convinced that succession planning is about much more than transferring assets. It’s about transferring a legacy.
Think about what previous generations passed down to you. Maybe you inherited land, but perhaps you also were imbued with:
- a work ethic
- commitment to your word
- willingness to help a neighbor
- respect for the land
- the ability to make do when times are tough
- the importance of family
- the courage to keep going when things don’t go according to plan
Those things don’t show up on a balance sheet. Yet they may be the most valuable things we inherit.
Each generation has a voice
One of the things “McArthur” captures so well is generational perspective. Generations don’t necessarily see the farm the same way. That’s real life.
One generation may see the farm as a lifetime of sacrifice. Another may see opportunity. Another may see financial security. Another may see a burden — or simply a different future. None of those perspectives are automatically wrong.
Succession planning isn’t about forcing the next generation to recreate the past. It’s about creating the opportunity for generations to have honest conversations about the future.
- What should continue?
- What needs to change?
- What does the farm need to look like five, 10 or 20 years from now?
The legacy conversation
Finally, and perhaps more importantly: What do we want to preserve, even if the farm itself eventually changes?
With this question, the family conversation essentially tests future scenarios:
- There may come a day when the highest and best use of a farm is no longer farming.
- There may come a day when selling is the right financial decision.
- There may come a day when the next generation decides they don’t want to farm.
Succession planning doesn’t guarantee the farm stays in the family forever. But good planning can help a family make those decisions intentionally rather than reactively.
That’s why I encourage farm families to have the legacy conversation long before the attorney drafts the documents or a buyer shows up with an offer.
Ask: What do we want to pass down?
Answer, not just in acres and dollars, but in values, relationships, opportunities, memories and lessons.
Eventually, all of us will pass something down. The question isn’t whether we will leave a legacy. The question is what that legacy will be.
So maybe turn up “McArthur” the next time you’re in the pickup. And then challenge yourself — and your family — to answer the question: When you pass on, what are you gonna pass down?