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| I'm about the same age as you and my dad is about the same age as your dad. My brother and I were lucky that our dad was pretty good about being open about what his plans were and what he wanted to happen. It's a complicated issue but it can be done pretty easily and painless if you just have the conversations about what everybody's expectations are. Again I was lucky that my dad has been pretty good with everything.
I won't get into all of it but our situation was a little complicated but we made it work. My advice would be to get this ball rolling as soon as possible. I would say we are on year 7 or 8 since my dad decided that he was going to slowly start to retire. He is essentially retired now( as much as a farmer retires that is lol) and most everything has been transitioned to us but he still has a few pieces of equipment that he owns yet. With the price of everything nowadays, I would say it takes 7 to 10 years to transition a farm sensibly. Unless you're going to go to the bank and write him a one time check and I would advise against that.
I don't know your whole situation, such as, how much of the land that your dad farm is rented and owned? Etc. But my questions to your dad would be.
How long do you plan on farming?
Do you plan on cutting back or continue as you are until you retire?
Do you have a plan when you retire?
How much income are you going to need when you retire?
How much of that income is going to need to come from the farm?
How much debt do you have?
What is your plan to pay thay debt?
Etc
If you have siblings, then you will need to adress that as well.
Obviously the way that you bring it up and address the situation matters as well but they are questions that need to be asked. The only other thing that I would say is that go into the conversation with an open mind and low expectations. I didnt expect any freebies or breaks when it came to my dad's retirement. All I wanted was to be able to rent the land at a fair price.
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Farm succession
