FOR RETIRING FARMERS AND THEIR FAMILIES

How do you know the next farmer will look after your farm?

Of everything you'll decide about stepping back, one choice matters more than the rest: who farms your land next.

Get it right and everyone benefits. Get it wrong and no structure will save it.

Who to look for

Start with where good farmers come from. The best candidates are aspiring farmers who have built their skills on other properties, and who have put together a detailed farm plan.

Then look at fit: the type of farming, the region and the scale, and how well you'd get on if you're staying on the property.

What makes the right farmer

Whoever they are, you're looking for skills, attitude and values, and a genuine commitment to the land and the community.

You know your land better than anyone, and you know the type of person who'll thrive on it.

And you'll want to look them in the eye before anything is settled. Good.

The best farmer, not the highest bidder

When it comes to choosing, one rule holds above the rest: the best farmer goes on the farm, not the highest bidder, the best farmer for that place.

If the farmer does well, the place is farmed well. Same interest, same side.

Take the time to get this choice right. Everything else in the handover rests on it.

Will it be farmed right?

Then, with the farmer chosen, a second question takes over. It's the one every farmer asks: if someone else runs it, how do I know it stays farmed the way I want?

Underneath it sits a real fear, the place slowly declining under someone who doesn't care the way you do.

On a handshake, you don't know. So don't leave the care as a feeling.

Write down the farming you want

Get the farming agreed up front, and written down, before anything moves: the farming system, the practices, the paddocks and infrastructure that matter most to you.

A feeling can't be pointed to later.

Look for the same reasons

Look hard at who you're handing over to, and why they're doing it.

You want the next farmer to want the same things for the place: farmed well, productive for the next generation, and kept in local hands.

Whatever the arrangement, ask for a written picture of how the place is tracking.

A say, and your family first

There is a way to step back from the farm without selling it. Your farm moves into the Cultivate Trust, which runs it on your behalf, with the right farmer on it.

The right farmer goes on it: the best farmer for the farm, not the highest bidder.

You keep a say in how it's farmed.

Before the Trust could ever sell the farm, it comes to your family first, for as long as you hold a stake.

The full guide, Your Farm, Your Legacy, is free at cultivatefarms.com/cultivate-trust.

You can build your own plan at cultivatefarms.com/plan.