Reading Time: 8 minutes We begin with a happy story. It was 3 a.m. and 18-year-old Ryan Galbraith was sitting in a seeder in a field in the middle of Western Australia when he realized all he wanted was to be a farmer. “It was one of those moments — you’re just out there enjoying it, you’re tired but […] Read more
Young, and (not) feeling stuck
You’ve gone back to the farm. You’re eager to make real decisions. You feel ready for it too, if only Mom and Dad would let you. So how do you convince them?
The Succession Advantage: Planning for the finish line
It's important to plan early and engage with a professional team
Reading Time: 3 minutes We wrap up The Succession Advantage with a final article about “The Finish Line.” At this point in the series, our succession plan is fairly well built. Along the way, we created family communication by aligning individual goals and visions; dove deep into farm financials and affordability; mapped the farm’s future through strategic business planning; […] Read more
How your farm’s numbers can help guide your dreams
Before jumping into transition planning, gather this information and have a conversation with your spouse
Reading Time: 3 minutes Many years ago, I worked under the late Andy Sirski at Grainews. He taught me to explain out loud how something worked before I wrote about it, how to write an interesting headline, and the difference between wondering and thinking. “Wondering doesn’t get you anywhere,” he used to say. Invariably these tools helped me focus […] Read more
The Succession Advantage – Finding fairness during farm transition
Reading Time: 4 minutes Our Succession Advantage series continues by examining advantages you can achieve during the transition process of succession planning. To date, we have covered the benefits of establishing proper communication for maintaining family harmony, clarifying the financial expectations to develop a sustainable plan, and dedicating time to strategic business planning. For the December issue of Country […] Read more
The Succession Advantage – Balancing growth and harvest
Reading Time: 3 minutes Following along with our series, The Succession Advantage, we have covered the first two critical stages for family farm transition planning. The Communication Advantage comes from respectful conversation and results in aligned vision and agreed upon goals for the farm’s future. Financial Advantages become more tangible when starting succession planning early and include tax savings, […] Read more
Taking stock before your farm succession
Before jumping into transition planning, gather this information and have a conversation with your spouse
Reading Time: 5 minutes Transition planning requires complicated professional tax and legal planning plus deep communication and strategic decision-making. It’s definitely not a do-it-yourself (DIY) project. However, there are some things you can do yourself ahead of transition planning to make it go more smoothly. They will save you time, money and headaches in the future. Many of us […] Read more
The Succession Advantage — Balancing the farm’s financials
Reading Time: 4 minutes Welcome back to our series, The Succession Advantage. Last time we examined the importance of using the correct tools to improve your family’s communication — a critical step to position your farm for continuity. This article addresses a stickier side — the financial aspects of succession. There’s the difference between what the farm is worth […] Read more
The Succession Advantage – Finding your family’s advantage point
Reading Time: 3 minutes Succession is more than passing the farm to the next generation. It’s about setting the farm up for ongoing success through a continual discovery process, examining every aspect of the farm and its operations, pulling out the very best, and incorporating them into best practices. It’s about having conversations with your family that get to […] Read more
Keep the farm or sell?
Mom and Dad want to retire. What’s the smart move? Should you keep the land for the family, or sell and invest?
Reading Time: 4 minutes As farming parents prepare to retire, conflicting viewpoints can arise with their offspring over keeping the land or selling it. What’s the right way to go? Deciding whether to retain versus divesting the family farm may be the biggest decision that any farm family will ever have to undertake. There’s no right or wrong answer, […] Read more
Getting to the dream
A real-life story of making a non-family farm transition work, including all the time, the effort, the talking and the satisfaction
Reading Time: 9 minutes About 15 years ago, Bob and Sharon McCoubrey were facing a dilemma. Bob’s body was telling him it was time to give up his orchard and vegetable farm in British Columbia’s Okanagan. It was time for the next phase of their lives, but past experience had left a bitter taste in their mouths. “We were […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
