STORIES WE LOVE
One question at the kitchen table started the whole succession plan
By Sam Marwood
Story from The Western Producer, 19 October 2023
Every now and then I find a story that shows exactly what we're about at Cultivate Farms: real people finding a way to keep a farm working and bring someone new onto it. I share them here because seeing it done by others makes it real. Here's one I love.
From The Western Producer, 19 October 2023: "Transition starts by deciding who wants to farm", by Mary MacArthur. Read the full story at producer.com.
Why I love it
A couple called their three daughters and their families to a meeting at the farm and wouldn't say what it was about. When everyone was round the table, one daughter asked her father if he was dying. He said no, he just wanted to ask all of them the one question at the same time: who wants to farm? He got two noes and a yes.
Everything since has come out of that. The daughter who said yes and her husband, a carpenter and machine operator with no farming behind him, are taking the place on. The two who said no will be looked after with cash and insurance rather than a share of the farm. The parents froze the value of their own shares, so the growth from here belongs to the couple doing the work.
Why it matters for towns like ours
Most families already know roughly what everyone wants, and have never once asked out loud. This family asked, in one room, on one day, and had their answer in a sentence. The accountants, the lawyers and the agreement all came after, including who has to sign off on big spending and what happens if a marriage ends. None of it could start until somebody asked the question.
One step you could take
Pick a date, ask everyone to the kitchen table, and ask the one question: who wants to farm? Write down what each person says before you talk to anybody else. Read how succession starts with one conversation in our Succession Guide.
I share these stories because each one shows it can be done, by ordinary farming families, in places like yours. If you know a story like this, or you're living one, I'd love to hear it.