According to the article, the lowest exemption amount being discussed is $1 Million. According to wikipedia, the average value of a family farm is $250,000 in the US, so in other words this will not impact the average family farm at all. (As a side note, my mother's side of the family does maintain a family farm passed through generations and it is currently worth substantially less than that...)

When you are talking about the truly large family farm worth over $1 Million, remember, that first million is still exempt, only the value over a million is taxed. This means that only a farm worth substantially over a million is at risk of unmanageable tax bills. A farm that large will look a lot like a corporate farm even if sole ownership has been passed through generations, and a farm owner with that kind of resources likely has a large life insurance policy that will help defray those taxes somewhat.

[Edit: spelling and grammar]

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=108143,00....

The fact is that most of the "family farms" that still exist are actually huge multi-million dollar operations.

If anything, million dollars fund is one of the biggest challenge that any kid would have. Any kid who have managed to keep their fund growing deserve a kudos in my book because they didn't squander their money in questionable investment schemes.

Remember, lottery winners typically all went broke. Very few have the financial skills to grow it.

It is a challenge most people would gladly take.

Farm subsidies have had interesting impacts on not only how farms have run, but shifts of political power and in fact the structure of that society.

And as another commentor says, other structures of ownership (corporations, LLC, trusts) can protect the family's ownership.

In any practical sense, inheritance tax doesn't really hasten the death of the family farm at all.