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| At 60 years old I have been on both sides of the father/son farming game. My first rented/farm ground was a 80 rented from my parents when I was about 14 years old. About 18 years ago my wife and I rented that same 80 to our son when he was about 14 years old. (BTW he won several state FFA titles in corn, soybean and crop production and was also a FFA national finalist in crop production. To say that it was a proud Dad moment seeing on the stage at the national FFA convention would be a severe understatemment).
I am a firm believer in the benefits of a off farm job for the son/daughter for a least a couple of years. It gives a new outlook for the kid coming into the operation, and it's also gives a new perspective for the Dad. I appreciate him a lot more than I used to. I don't take him for granted anymore. He farmed part time with us and was a full time mechanic at a local JD dealership for 12 years. This gave him the oppurtunity to see how other successful farmers do things. He has brought a lot of great ideas back with him.
We have always said "someday" he'll take over.... 2 years ago I was diagnosed with some heart problems that untreated would have been not good. We made some major changes bringing our son back full time into our farming operation, renting him some more of our ground. He has pretty much taken over the day to day operations while I'm kind of the general manager. He has his ground, we have our ground, we provide most of the machinery needed, he is buying some pieces as needed. We have seperate operations but share machinery. THIS IS THE BEST THING WE'VE EVERY DONE!!!
We see so many of our friends and neighbors who are the last of 3-4 generation farms and now are in their 50-60's and have no one to take over the farm. We are very blessed to have a great next generation to take over. | |
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Father son working relationship advice
