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nc ks | I have 3 boys. They all farm with me, they have there own and I have my own but all off the machinery gets used on everybody's and the inputs get divided up by where they were used to settle up at the end of the year. At the beginning, I subsidized them. I would say they are pulling their own weight now, and when you add in what we are able to accomplish as a group, they are making my part worth more and generate more income for me than I could without them. Someday as my equipment dwindles and theirs' increases, they will probably subsidize me for a bit before I just rent it to them. If the next generation is worth its salt, this model works if it is just one child, or 5, or 10.
I never forced them to farm with me (us, my wife is very involved), they have chosen to. We are very open about succession plans. I have told the boys that if one of them wants to do something else, that is great and they have our full support but they have no desire at this time. We also talk openly about sweat equity and if one of the boys wasn't involved in the farm, their inheritance would not match a brother that has been working the farm. None of them have a problem with that thinking. They can see themselves what there collaborative work is doing for me and themselves. Everybody is helping the other's boat float and there are efficiencies in that that have a profound effect on the amount total wealth. They are starting families and have openly talked about structuring things the same way with their on and off farm kids.
Having the confidence that your sweat isn't wasted when you are working that day on something that isn't technically yours promotes unity and work ethic. That is not to discount doing things for others that you will receive nothing for. That is necessary too if you have good character and want to be happy, but that isn't the main jist of this conversation.
Do I think we all hold hands forever and no strife will surface....of course not. Life is difficult and messy sometimes, but having a framework that is fair and upfront so everyone knows the deal and the tradeoffs helps smooth out the troubling times we hope.
For those that are bitter about being a first generation farmer, I empathise, but it doesn't float your boat any more by delighting in seeing a person lose his or her sweat equity because their parents didn't have the stones to make things fair. Equal isn't fair if someone gave their sweat for their parents sake. Many times that person has given their parents the gift of still being in 'control' of something better than they could have done themselves, the least a parent can do is realize that and protect that child's future relative to the sacrifice they have made. As far as the gift the parents gave to the child as to being there and enjoying the relationship, I would say it goes ten fold the other way back to the parents by having someone there in there later years of farming to do the tough things and make tough decisions that were just normal decisions in their younger years. Farming often gets very lonely and hard in the later years without the younger generation there every day.
Edited by kb ag 11/27/2022 13:19
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I want LAND!!
