FOR FARMING FAMILIES

When the kids don't want the farm

You grew up on the farm, and you've known for a while that your life is going somewhere else.

Saying that out loud to your parents can feel like letting them down. But they need to hear it, because they can't plan around something nobody has said.

Saying it with love

If you're that child, you need a way to tell them. Telling them is a gift to the family, not a disappointment to manage.

A letter can carry it gently:

Dear Mum and Dad,

I need to tell you something I've been putting off, and I hope you'll hear it with love.

I don't want to farm. It's not because I don't value what you've built. This farm is part of who I am, even though my life has taken me somewhere else.

I'm telling you because I think it's important for your planning. You deserve the full picture.

I support whatever you decide. And I'd like to be part of the conversation, even if I'm not the one farming.

Love, (your name)

You can still be part of it

Not farming doesn't mean stepping out of the conversation. You might still want a voice in the big calls, an income from the farm, or no ongoing role at all.

Each of those is a real answer, and whichever it is, you still belong in the conversation about the farm's future. The family needs to know which one is yours.

When none of them want it

Sometimes the kids don't want the farm at all. Or there are no kids. Selling can start to feel like the only way out.

It isn't the only way. Most of the pathways in the guide can work with a farmer from outside the family: leasing, share farming, lease to buy or vendor finance.

An illustration

Think of a farmer whose children have all made their lives in the city.

One of them sends him the guide, and he reads about the Cultivate Trust. There is a way to step back from the farm without selling it. His farm would move into the Cultivate Trust, which runs it on his behalf, with the right farmer on it.

For the first time, he can picture staying on to show a new farmer everything. One day he might move to town, and drive out most weeks.

For him, that's the legacy.

He's an illustration, not a real person.

For a family like his

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

How the Cultivate Trust works is set out in full in Your Farm, Your Legacy, which is free at cultivatefarms.com/cultivate-trust.

There is a future for the farm

If the next farmer isn't family, the farm can still be farmed, and still be loved.

There are people who would love your farm, and structures that make it work.

The full guide, The Cultivate Farms Succession Guide, is free at cultivatefarms.com/resources.

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