Now you need to let the rest of the family know that planning for the future is on your mind. You don’t need to solve everything today or worry about the details. Just start the conversation.

Defining ‘family’

Family has a lot of possible definitions and can include a lot of people. It’s not just an owner’s kids, or nieces or nephews but their significant others that will be affected by succession planning. Family can include anyone with a connection to the farm, whether they are interested in farming or not. It’s important to decide who should be included in succession planning conversations and to what degree. You may wish to seek advice from a transition planning expert.

Short, individual chats

It’s best to have a conversation with each family member individually. This allows each person to speak as freely as possible without worrying about offending other family members. You might start the conversation with something like, “Your mother/father and I were talking recently about the future, what we want to do when we retire, and the plan for the farm. We need to start planning ahead for all that and want to know your thoughts.” And let the conversation flow from there.

Your goal is to let them know you’re thinking about transition/retirement and get a loose idea of the role they see the farm playing in their future. Ask an open-ended question they can’t answer with a yes or no to get their perspective. For a child, it might be, “We’re curious what your thoughts are on the farm, if it’s part of your future plans.”

For another family member who you know doesn’t want a life on the farm, it might not be a question at all but more of an assurance: “We’re going to figure out what’s best for everyone involved and include the family in the planning as much as we can.” 

You can wrap things up by letting them know you’re chatting with everyone individually. Also let them know the succession plan is important for family peace and togetherness. So, you’ll be asking everyone to be a part of it in one way or another.