Gearing Down - workshop for farmers
Navigating the complexities and hard conversations surrounding family farm succession
Reaching Out - LLCI009-002
The issue
Successfully transitioning agricultural farming businesses from one generation to the next is an issue across Australia. Under the Local Landcare Coordinator Initiative, an Annual Action Plan was developed where it was identified that supporting the economic viability of farming businesses and supporting young farmers were key objectives. Addressing the underlying driver of business transition was seen as crucial to the Landcare group.
The solution
An opportunity arose to partner with Little River Landcare Group to deliver business transition workshops for both younger and older farmers. To kick off the partnership, a “Gearing Down” workshop was held for retiring farmers in October 2016 in Dubbo to provide information about the process of transferring farm management and assets to the next generation. The purpose of the workshops was to provide a starting point to navigate these complexities. Three local agri-processionals including an accountant, solicitor and a facilitator led the small workshop group through various case studies in their respective fields.
The impact
The Gearing Down workshop day was very well received by the 14 participating local farmers from Little River Landcare and Macquarie 2100. The three presenters were praised with their generosity of sharing their knowledge and insights. The long-term impact of the workshop is yet to be seen however, it provided the participants vocalised how it provided them with greater confidence on how and where to start the hard conversations of farm business transition with other family members. The overall impact of the day, is that Little River Landcare and Macquarie 2100 will be collaborating further to deliver other farming succession days in 2017.
Learnings
As part of the workshop, there was a facilitated feedback session as well as evaluation forms that provided useful information for Little River Landcare and Macquarie 2100. The key thing we learnt was that whilst the Gearing Down workshop was appreciated by the participants, it was discussed how it needs to be acknowledged that people at different stages of business transitions and farmers from all ages should be involved.
Key facts
- Farming transition is often a complex and difficult process
- Local partnerships to deliver information
- Workshops on farming business transition need to target all ages and succession stages