Two in five farmers have no formal successor as ageing demographics fuel looming succession crisis

3 comments

1. Cool. Let the government buy large chunks of land back and start rewilding it and repairing our ecosystem

2. Made the point before; the state ought to have a fund to retire farmland as old farmers age out. They could even structure it as a form of reverse mortgage. It’s a perfect opportunity for recapturing back land for the public good.

3. Without intending to convey that this isn’t a serious problem, I wonder if the survey responses have been skewed by the green cert requirement. You can’t inherit a farm without a green cert. I wonder if ‘formal successor’ in the survey was defined as someone who could take over the farm today if needed – i.e. someone who has a green cert. I expect many farms have a clear successor in mind (namely a child) who hasn’t yet obtained his green cert, so can’t be formally named as such.

   I know a few farmers who were in this situation until recently: their children wanted to inherit the farm, but weren’t yet old enough or hadn’t yet had time to complete the prerequisite courses needed for a green cert. They all now have their green certs and could technically take over the farm at any time.