We still read about baby boomers, naturally. And of course there are generations X, Y and Z. Now, too, there’s Alpha, and we’re even told the first baby born this coming New Year’s Day will usher in a new group that, whatever their feelings about the matter, will have to wear the label “Generation Beta” and try not to notice us chuckling when they say it.
Let’s wish them some luck.
Apparently, there can’t be too many generations. Or at least, that’s what you’d gather from our national news media. On the farm, meanwhile, it sometimes seems it might be more useful to separate everyone into just two.
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And to make it super simpler, it only takes one question to sort out which generation you belong to.
Have you ever said “Canada’s cheap food policy” twice in one day, and meant it both times?
Of course I’m being glib, but you get the point. The farmers who by and large own Canadian agriculture and run its farms, and the young would-be farmers who are waiting for them to step aside, are citizens of two completely different worlds.
The younger generation is jumping through all the hoops. They’ve demonstrated their commitment to the farm, they’ve shown they can make effective decisions — both the kind that need patient and thoughtful analysis and the kind that need to be made on the spur of the white hot moment.
They also have a realistic assessment of their management skills and they understand, much better than their parents and at a much younger age, the management skills they need to acquire and how to do it.
Don’t get me wrong. Their parents deserve huge credit for the progress that Canada’s next generation of farmers have made.
And also don’t get me wrong. I understand that not every next generation hopeful on every farm is absolutely qualified for the job.
I also see that every next generation farmer on every farm has some gap that needs filling, just like their parents. It’s what personal growth is all about.
I also have enormous respect for the senior generation and I have some sense of how much thought you give to this. It’s the family farm. The way you set it up for the next generation will be as important as any other decision you make in life.
Yet we all know, don’t we, that there are aspects of the future that your children see more clearly than you do. And they’re raring to get at it, which you can’t always say about yourself.
And we also know, as you’ll read in our October issue of Country Guide and those to follow, we’re in a new era of succession and transition planning, with solutions like we’ve never had before.
Perhaps, though, I could make one suggestion based on a summer of farm discussions. Winter is coming. Make it a project to get to know your children’s friends better than ever. Listen to their circle talk about the farm, about their ideas, about what they bring to the table.
Then catch the fever, and let me know, as always. Are we getting right? I’m at [email protected].
