Reading Time: 8 minutes Retiring from the farm can have a massive impact on farmers’ mental and physical health. It can seem the lucky ones are those who can still live on the farm site, do a few odd jobs, run some errands or help out at busy times. Indeed, the ones who end up moving away from the […] Read more
Retired farmers show they have a lifetime to share
Support for these farmers stopped the moment they left the farm, until Jill Rennie developed this innovative dementia support group
When the time comes to downsize
To paraphrase Canadian country singer Corb Lund, perhaps you have decided that everything is NOT better with cows around
Reading Time: 4 minutes Maybe it is time to consider gracefully exiting your farm business. There could be multiple reasons for the decision: just one too many tough harvests; an terrible spring for calving out cows like the one Alberta and Saskatchewan saw in 2018; children who genuinely have no desire to carry on the farm business; or perhaps, […] Read more
The ‘succession effect’
Setting transition as a goal for your farm can spur growth and profitability, until about three-quarters of the way through
Reading Time: 5 minutes All farmers, no matter where they farm in the world, share certain characteristics. They are all born worriers, and they all have lots to worry about — weather, crop prices, markets. And on top of the day-to-day production issues, and the management challenges involved in running today’s complex farm operations, farmers also have a lot […] Read more
Who controls the purse strings on your farm?
By the time the parents hit their mid-60s, financial decision-making should be in the hands of the next generation. Really!
Reading Time: 5 minutes Two decades ago, U.K. professor Andrew Errington identified three stages of farm transfer: succession, retirement and inheritance. He defined succession as the gradual handing over of managerial control. Retirement was the owner withdrawing from active participation in the business of the farm, and inheritance was how the assets were finally signed over to the successor. […] Read more
‘Redirection’
Is it better to keep farming into your 70s, or to retire off the farm in your early 60s? New research suggests that what you may really need is a rewarding change of direction
Reading Time: 8 minutes It’s easy to see the two pincers coming together, at least when you look at farming from a national perspective. The average Canadian farmer is 55, on the one hand, and the average Canadian retires at 62 on the other. But let’s put a best-case face on it. For self-employment Canadians — the category that […] Read more
Let your kids see how you mind your farm’s business
Here’s where the farm succession process really starts
Reading Time: 5 minutes If you’re close to retirement, you may be getting ready to succeed the farm to your children. Or, if you’re younger, you’ll be thinking about what is going to happen to the farm when it’s your turn to retire. In either scenario, your family, your children and the business itself will likely be intermingling, which […] Read more
Flood warning
Will Canada’s land market drown in a torrent of new listings as more farmers get to retirement age? The truth is… nobody knows
Reading Time: 9 minutes We’ve all heard the predictions. They say that with so many of our farmers reaching their 60s and 70s all at the same time, we’re soon going to see the biggest rush of land onto the market that this country has ever witnessed. Will it happen? Will the land market get flooded sometime in the […] Read more
Taking the farm beyond the family
It takes smarts and determination to use your farm to help a new farmer get their start, but the rewards can be deeply satisfying
Reading Time: 9 minutes Four years ago, Tom and Margaret Towers were facing a dilemma that’s becoming increasingly common for farm couples as they move into what are politely called their senior years. The Towers knew they couldn’t continue to manage alone forever, and they also knew they wouldn’t want to leave the farm near Red Deer, which they’d […] Read more
Plan before you retire
Whether you’re selling or if you’re transferring farm assets to the next generation, tax-smart retirement takes planning… and time
Reading Time: 10 minutes In 2011, 48 per cent of Canada’s farmers were 55 years old or older. Five years earlier, the number had only been 41 per cent. If you draw a straight line, that means 55 per cent of farmers are now 55 or older. And it also means our median age is approaching 65! Whether that’s […] Read more
Selling the farm
Inside the sale of a modern, diversified and complex family farm
Reading Time: 10 minutes Once you decide it’s time to retire from farming, there’s a pile of planning, strategy and communication to fork your way through. Here’s how one couple from Saskatchewan proactively approached the sale of their seed farm, and how they captured value beyond piecemeal selling of their hard assets. Warren and Carla Kaeding and Roger and […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
