FOR FARMING FAMILIES
What happens to a family farm with no succession plan?
By Sam Marwood
It's a Sunday afternoon, five years from now. Where are you, and what's become of the farm?
There are two very different answers.
The best version
Imagine this. You're on the verandah. The paddocks are green.
The fences are tight. There's a young family in the cottage down the lane, their kids running between the sheds the way yours used to.
One of your children, or maybe a farmer you didn't know five years ago, is running the operation. They're doing things a bit differently, and that's fine. The place is productive.
You're still connected. Maybe you still have a say at the family meeting. Maybe you help with the lambing. Maybe you just drive out and lean on the fence.
You're not carrying the weight any more, but you haven't lost the connection.
Your family is at peace. Everyone got a fair outcome. Nobody went into debt they can't manage. Nobody resents anybody.
The conversation was hard, but it happened, and it brought you closer.
The farm's in good hands. Your legacy is secure. The community has kept a farming family.
The worst version
Now imagine this. Dad's had a stroke. He's in the hospital. Mum is in shock.
Nobody knows where the will is. Nobody knows what the farm is worth. Nobody knows what Dad wanted, because he refused to talk about it.
The farm has been declining for years. Fences are down. Pastures are overgrown. A neighbour calls the real estate agent before the family has even had a meeting.
The siblings start arguing. One has been working the farm for twenty years. Another lives in the city and wants cash. A third turns up with a lawyer.
The farm sells in a hurry, below market value, to a buyer who knocks down the house. No family lives on it any more.
Mum moves to a rental in town. Dad comes home from hospital to a place he's never lived in. The family Christmas doesn't happen that year.
Neither picture is any one family. They're illustrations, set side by side.
How the second picture happens
Most Australian farming families have no legally binding succession plan, and most family farms don't survive the first generational transfer intact.
It can start with two words: "next year". Then it's next year again, year after year. Then a health scare forces it in 72 hours.
Putting it off creates risk for the older generation too. Planning now protects you later.
What a plan deals with ahead of time
Most of the second picture is something a plan deals with before it's needed.
A current will that reflects the succession plan.
A power of attorney already signed, so someone the family trusts can act if Dad can't.
A family that has already talked about what fair looks like, so the siblings aren't working it out in a crisis.
A handover with a timeline, and milestones for each stage.
What the best version needs
That first picture is available to almost every farming family in Australia. The tools exist. The options exist. The support exists.
What's usually missing is the conversation.
The difference between those two Sundays is whether someone spoke up in time. The planning follows, over months and years.
The full guide, The Cultivate Farms Succession Guide, is free at cultivatefarms.com/resources.
You can build your own plan at cultivatefarms.com/plan.