By Alice McFarlane

Farm Succession

Silence is not golden when it comes to the future of the farm

Feb 14, 2019 | 5:14 PM

One of the most difficult conversations for a farming family is how and when the farm will be transferred to the next generation.

That was the focus of a presentation at the annual Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists Ag Update held in Melfort.

Dr. Thomas Deans is the author of Every Family’s Business 12 Common Sense Questions to Protect Your Wealth.

“The absence of conversation is silence. That silence is the great destroyer of family farms.” Deans said.

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“The message is if we can overcome our fear of opening up a conversation and going down a road we don’t understand, I think the flip side of that is when we do start those conversations and we have the courage and convictions we pop out the other end of those conversations and we actually feel pretty good because we know where our family is going,” Deans said.

The process can’t start unless there is a will. Deans said statistics indicate 50 per cent of the adult population doesn’t have a will. He said we need to think of a will as a start with the end in mind.

“We have to plan as if we could die sooner rather than later. The will is the first step in a business succession plan,” Deans said. “If you’re a business owner, if you’re a farmer and you don’t have a will you do not have a business succession plan, period”

In the absence of a will Saskatchewan laws kick in.

“The family farm will be divided, along with the canoe and barbecue and put family members as equal shareholders in the farming operation and for many people that’s a disaster,” Deans said.

Families tend to be sentimental about multi-generational farms. Deans said when business becomes emotional it stops our critical thinking.

“The farm must be built with the sale in mind whether it’s sold to a family member or a third party,” Deans said. “The farm has grown, land has appreciated, you have a balance sheet, it’s worth a lot of money, it’s important and it’s complex but it’s treated like an emotional trinket.”

“That is why so many farms fail and why so many smart farmers pick up neighboring farms for pennies on the dollar.”

“The farm is not the legacy. People won’t remember a farmer for their farming operation. A farmers’ true and authentic legacy is their family,” Deans said.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF