Succession planning for a family farm is one of the most important things to have in place. Discerning farmers know that the day they take over the farm, is the day they start planning their own handover to the next generation.
Fundamentally, in a previous generation, it was a simple process, when Mum and Dad were ready to retire the oldest son would take over the farm, with his siblings making do with other benefits or gifts, generally considerably lesser value.
What was once deemed as the most appropriate path to pass a farm from one generation to the next. Today it is no longer considered reasonable and every family member requirement, within reason need to be more carefully accounted for.
The key to an acceptable succession plan is one that will allow the next generation to take their own path and make their own mark. This may mean changing from farming sheep and beef to dairying or moving into horticulture, to achieve this they may need to leave the family farm. For other families, if every younger generation has moved off the land, while selling the family farm was not originally part of the picture, fundamentally selling the family asset and sharing the proceeds is the sensible procedure in these situations.
Rural property transactions and succession planning are generally interlaced, this is where it can be important to bring on board a rural sales consultant, our role is to provide sound and solid advice for what can be an emotional and sensitive process. Having a sales consultant involved in the early stages is extremely helpful in helping provide and advise different options and avenues and then once all the objectives have been worked out, helping to execute the plan.
A well thought out plan can be a long process, I have been working with some farming families from the day I moved back to Gisborne and started my rural real estate career, and for some of them, the final execution is still 4 or 5 years away.
Please feel free to get in touch if you would like any advice on anything to do with rural real estate
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