FOR ASPIRING FARMERS
How to be the farmer a retiring farmer chooses
By Sam Marwood
The highest bidder doesn't always get the farm.
You Can Own a Farm, written for aspiring farmers, sets out one option that works differently to the others. It changes who gets the farm.
A way to step back without selling
There is a way for a retiring farmer to step back from the farm without selling it. Its name is the Cultivate Trust.
Their farm moves into the Cultivate Trust, which runs it on their behalf, with the right farmer on it.
Where you come in
The right farmer goes on it: the best farmer for the farm, not the highest bidder.
So your job is to be the farmer worth choosing. That means being someone who can run a farm well, and who's shown they're serious. The relationships, the plan and the persistence you build are what get you noticed.
Farming alongside the family
The retiring farmer's family keeps a say in how it's farmed. Often they can stay in the house; that is settled in writing as part of the design.
The farmer they'll want is one who's glad to farm with the family close by, and keen to learn what they know about the place.
How you show you're serious
Whatever the arrangement, the guide points to a few clear signs that retiring farmers and backers look for.
A farmer who'll vouch for you. Someone you've worked for who can speak to how reliable you are and how hard you work.
Farming already, wherever you can. Leasing a small block and running some stock, even at your own cost, shows where you're heading.
A plan that looks after the land. One that leaves the soil better than you found it.
Good people around you. A few people you trust to check your thinking.
Talking about it
Know the Trust well enough to talk about it with confidence when a retiring farmer raises it.
When they want to know what it would mean for their family, point them to Your Farm, Your Legacy. It's the full guide to how the Cultivate Trust works, for anyone weighing it up on either side, free at cultivatefarms.com/cultivate-trust.
The full guide, You Can Own a Farm, is free at cultivatefarms.com/resources.
You can build your own plan at cultivatefarms.com/plan.