Don't think I'd sell- I think farm land is a better investment than whatever else you could do with the money. And as JDSeller said, the monetary system is going to blow up one fine day, and I think you'd be better off with tangible assets rather than $$$ invested when that happens.
But if you are going to sell, do it in 2012, because capital gains tax advantage will probably go away after the election.
It would be a good idea to split it now, though, especially if you're on better terms with your sister than you will be with her heirs after she passes (or vice versa). The problem with carrying the place on through the generations is two-fold- the longer it goes, the more owners there are, and the harder it will be to ever get a consensus on anything. When the house needs a new roof, you can bet somebody will object.
Get a trusted real estate person to give you a market analysis on the farmstead, and per-acre value on farmland and timberland. Then figure out a way to split it that will be equitable, maybe with some "boot" one way or the other, if that's necessary to equalize the values.
You could also sell just the timberland, if neither of you is interested in it and want to raise some cash.
I'm kind of a fan of selling on contract- but then, I'm a lawyer and the idea of forfeiting the contract doesn't scare me. You get better interest than you can any other way, and sure, bad things may happen, but more often, things go fine. Be sure a deed is escrowed somewhere, build sufficient safeguards into the contract, insist on insurance (including liability), and get enough down payment that buyer has skin in the game. Check on the property regularly to make sure he's not turning it into a meth lab.
Nobody ever went broke getting 20% down, and either collecting 5 or 6% interest, or getting the property back and reselling it.
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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