Off-farm jobs help develop skills

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Published: May 23, 2002

WINNIPEG – Farmers of the future increasingly could choose farming as a

second career, returning with equity and management experience after

working in other sectors first.

Larry Martin of the George Morris Centre, who spoke at a conference on

farm succession in Winnipeg earlier this month, said many over age 35

are coming back to the family farm with management skills.

The chief executive officer of the agricultural think-tank based in

Guelph, Ont., cited examples of well-run operations, where the senior

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members insist their children go away to work before getting back into

the business.

Martin said it allows the younger generation to work hard and build

experience in the larger world and equity in the farm.

“Sending the kid off to make sure he can be successful in somebody

else’s company is a really good test,” Martin said.

Commenting on other trends, he cited large amounts of farmland in the

hands of non-operators. They include many widows who do not wish to run

the farm or have no interested heirs.

That means much farmland will be transferred by methods other than

inter-generational transfers.

Martin said that might present opportunities for farmers who do not

wish to tie up a large amount of capital in land.

He questioned why producers need to own all the land they farm and

suggested alternate arrangements to finance, rent or get access to land.

Little has changed in attitudes toward farm succession planning over

the years, Martin said. Getting people to talk about it remains as

difficult for this generation as it was for the last.

“Succession planning is a little like high school sex in the Sixties;

everybody talks about it but nobody does it,” he said.

The average age of Canadian farmers is 54, so much farmland will start

to turn over or be sold in the coming decade. As farm populations

decline, Martin said there are fewer farmers under age 35 entering

agriculture.

Total farm capital in Canada in 1996 was $172 billion from 276,000

farms. The amount of farm equity has grown substantially in the last

few decades, more in livestock and quota values than in land. The

amount of equity in the farm among older farmers remains high.

About the author

Karen Morrison

Saskatoon newsroom

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