Making better choices for the farm doesn’t have to be complicated.
A young farmer sends a distress-filled email at 2 am. He calls for help to try and figure out whether he should chuck his dream of farming and find another life. His father has just demanded two-thirds crop share for new land the young farmer has rented. His goal is to get ahead. His father wants to be well paid for the use of Dad’s equipment. Oh, and Uncle has a say in things as well. Unfortunately, it is disclosed later in conversation that there are no written agreements to be found, none for the partnership of Dad and Uncle, nor for the use of the equipment by the striving-to-succeed son.
During my morning quiet time I reread the story of the prodigal son. There is a phrase in the context of the young man wanting to return home to his father after he has “come to his senses.”
This morning we have spent hours rouging a barley field to remove oats and volunteer wheat in order for the field to pass inspection – which thankfully it did. As I was pulling out the oats I was reflecting on the three farmers who declared yesterday that they did not have accountants, a lawyer or power of attorney in place. I couldn’t believe the sadness of the farmer who said, “Elaine, I’m like a hillbilly farmer who didn’t use professionals for the farm transfer, and now I have no income.”
Come to your senses. Some things we do out of habit need to be “unlearned”.
WHAT’S UNLEARNING?
Maybe you’ve had a lifetime habit of saying yes when you’d like to say no – that’s an Unlearning! Or, you need to control less and delegate more – that’s an Unlearning! Perhaps you eat when stressed and you want to stop – that’s an Unlearning!
As an aging bookkeeper you might want to find a decent accountant to help you with tax planning, and setting up a workable business plan for your farm transfer to the next generation.
You might also want to visit an FCC office or other ag lender of your choice to see if you have a viable operation, and what a fair appraisal value would be. The younger generation could also get a lesson here as to the value of debt servicing based on their off-farm income and farm income, and their ability to be very frugal with lifestyle choices in order to manage more debt. As far as lawyers go, many CAFA (Canadian Association of Farm Advisors www.cafanet.com) members could give you a decent referral to a lawyer who can help get some of those partnerships and operating agreements in place that the guy in the opening paragraph of this column could really use.
The path to making better choices for your farm business Continue reading What do you want and what does the next generation want? »
