The $15 Million Lesson That Inspired Jace D. Young to Help Farmers Build a Legacy

Jace D. Young’s plans for a future on the family farm in Kansas were shattered when his grandfather declared bankruptcy. That loss shaped his mission to help farmers master their numbers, protect their future, and build a true legacy that lasts beyond the land.

15 Minutes With Jace D. Young

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Lost Legacy

Young’s family farm near Tribune, Kansas, was started by his grandfather in the 1950s. By the early 2000s, it was a $10-15 million operation with a 14,000-head feed yard, 5,000 acres, and a grain elevator that employed several extended family members.

The day the farm went under, “My dad just looked at me and said, ‘Hey, just so you know, everything’s done, and unfortunately we’re going to have to shut everything down and find something else to do,’” Young recalled. His parents had to leave their house, which was on the farm property. They also lost 40 years of savings — around $300,000. The family moved to a small house in town and his dad got a job driving the country trash truck.

Young said his parents’ outcome may have been different if they’d have had access to financial records. “So many people in the ag industry make lifelong decisions based on the promise of what their parents are saying,” he said. “My dad literally got blindsided versus if my granddad would’ve told him what was going on six months earlier, because there were signals.”

New Vision

Despite having to change his plans to join the family operation, Young said, “I’m so grateful that it happened because it completely changed my perspective on my life and what I wanted.” He went to college and worked as an ag banker for around five years.

“That was super important for my journey because growing up on the farm, I saw the struggles from an operational standpoint, but stepping into the bank, I got to see the financial gaps and really the mistakes that my granddad was making because he didn’t have clear numbers, and he didn’t understand the risk he was taking and that the market environment had changed,” Young said.

He left the banking industry in search of more control over his future. In 2019, he launched coaching platform Legacy Farmer. He and more than two dozen team members work with farmers to gain financial clarity, structure, and confidence so they can protect their operations and build lasting generational legacy. 

“To my granddad, legacy was the old traditional definition of passing on assets and wealth. To me, legacy is passing on opportunity,” Young said. “Some of that comes in the form of assets, but I have zero expectation for my kids to take over what I’m doing today. My legacy is going to be my ability to provide opportunity, but it’s a lot more about what they say about me after I’m gone.”

Lessons For Farmers

Keeping clear financial records is a key component of Young’s message to clients, and that starts before taking over the farm. “If you move back to the operation and Mom and Dad aren’t upfront about this and aren’t willing to share this information, that’s a massive red flag,” he said. “One big reason why we have these generational operations that go under is because when parents don’t bring the kids into the financial conversation early, they are robbing that child of development from employee mindset to business owner mindset, and they’re two completely different things.”

Young instructs clients to update their cash flow monthly. “If you’re not updating the numbers on a monthly basis, you can’t plan or react in the right way to changes,” he said. 

His company’s software, Farmer Metrics, provides a way to outline cash flow. “Most of the loan policies in banks require one balance sheet per year, and most of the time, farmers are filling it out the night before or in their truck before they walk into the bank,” he said. “They’re treating their multi-million dollar business like a hobby.”

As a banker in his 20s, Young said farmers in their 50s would come to him asking if they could afford to buy more land because they didn’t know their numbers. With his clients, he said, “I want them to know what the bank’s going to say before they ever walk in the door. That changes the entire dynamic of that relationship and honestly puts all the power and leverage in the hands of the farmer.”

Links and Resources

• Learn more about Legacy Farmer and listen to Young’s podcast.
• As a farmer and ag lender, Drew Cox has a unique perspective on legacy, succession, and the future of agriculture in Missouri and beyond.
• See how livestock economist and cattle producer Danyelle Chinn turns complex data into actionable insights for farmers.
• Find more 15 Minutes With a Farmer interviews.

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