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28 THE RURAL VOICE
longer part of the farming operation
also needs to be considered.
Once the goals of the family have
been set, the ways of attaining those
goals often requires a team approach
of professional advisers such as a
lawyer, accountant, financial planner
and banker.
f the farm is viable, there are
ways of transferring that will keep
it viable, says Uren. If the farm
isn't viable, there's not much that can
be done to make it so through the
transfer process.
He likes to find ways to make the
transfer work without borrowing
money. "It's always seemed strange
to me when a couple would borrow
money to buy a farm, wotk for 25
years to pay off the bank, have a few
debt free years then have their
children have to buy the same
business back from the same bank."
There are ways of self-financing
family transfers to keep as much of
the money at home as possible. he
says.
n doing so, it's important to
protect the senior generation
because they can't afford to have
the financial rug pulled out from
under them and have to start over if
the younger generation fails.
At the same time it's important to
protect the younger generation who
chose to come back and take over the
farm, he says. These are often people
who had other options. They could
have been successful in other careers
but they chose to come back to the
family farm and they deserve
protection.
Despite the urgency of the
situation with so many farmers
nearing retirement, it's estimated
only two to four per cent of farmers
have a written succession plan. It's a
problem for the whole of Canadian
agriculture because the dynamism of
a new young generation of farmers is
needed to keep the country
competitive.
"Failure to plan is a potential to
fail on three fronts — the family, the
business and the ownership capital,"
said John Anderson of the Canadian
Farm Business Management Council
in a Western Producer article.
"Failure to have a succession plan is
a complete lack of responsibility as a
steward of the business."0