Marsh FarmsMarch 18, 2026
How Marsh Farms broke an $18M plateau and grew yield value 47% in six seasons.
47%
Yield value growth in six seasons
2.4×
Reinvestment velocity increase
Vance Estates
Vance Estates is a 3,400-acre operation built over forty years by a single founder who made every decision himself.
Services
GovernanceSuccessionCapital Allocation
- Industry
- Row Crop & Grain
- Operation size
- 3,400 acres
- Timeline
- 16 months
68%
Faster board decisions
$4.2M
New capital committed
January 22, 2026
How Vance Estates built a board that outlasted its founder.
The challenge
Forty years of judgement held in one person's head.
Every consequential decision at Vance ran through the founder, and it had worked — the operation was genuinely good. But there was no institution behind it, and lenders had begun pricing that concentration risk into every conversation.
The approach
We built the governance first and moved the decisions across second.
A board was seated with two independent directors and a written mandate before any authority moved. Decision rights then transferred in tranches over four quarters, each one tested against real seasonal decisions rather than in the abstract.
The results
Board decisions now close 68% faster than the founder-only process, and $4.2M of new capital has been committed against the governance rather than the individual.
- Board seated with two independent directors
- Decision cycle time down 68%
- $4.2M new capital committed post-restructure
- Authority transferred across four quarterly tranches
- Lender risk premium removed at refinancing
"I spent forty years being the bottleneck and calling it leadership. The board makes better calls than I did alone."
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Marsh FarmsCole Land HoldingsMarch 12, 2026
How Cole Land Holdings aligned three generations on one succession plan.
3
Generations aligned on one plan
100%
Governance handed to the family