BlO—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, August 2,1980
When you talk with far
mers about retirement, you
get some really interesting
reactions
As a group, fanners seem
to be less prepared for that
eventual day than almost
any other segment of
society. After all, there is no
mandatory age and you’re
talking about retiring from a
business rather than a job.
Many of the farmers I've
checked with on this topic
have no plans at all when it
comes to hanging it up It’s a
reality they’re aware of, but
simply haven’t faced
The exception to that
seems to be those farmers
who have family involved m
the business. In those cases
there’s usually a plan, well
thought out or otherwise,
that describes how someday
when the owner-operator
retires, the younger family
member takes over.
Part of the great
American agricultural
dream involves a successful
farmer bringing tus sons or
sons-m-law into the business
guiding them along as
they develop towards the
time when the farmer
himself can start taking it a
little easier
The father-son partnership
is a traditional on American
farms as bales of hay, and I
would guess that nine out of
10 of today’s young farmers
Farm
Talk
Jerry Webb
are either farming with one
or more parents, have taken
over an operation upon the
parents’ retirement, or have
inherited a farm After all, w
today’s high dollar farming
there aren’t many other
ways to get started.
But what about the far
mers who don’t have sons or
sons-m-law or whose off
spring don’t want to farm’
What are they doing about
retirement’ In general, I
would say not much
I recall a conversation a
few months hack with two
brothers, both quite suc
cessful, large-scale
operators, who farm in
partnership with no obvious
replacements when it comes
their tune to retire When
asked, both agreed that they
had no plans for retirement
In fact, they don’t even in
tend to retire
I suppose to die with one’s
overalls on in the midst of
com planting would be a
glorious way to go, but it’s
not very reahstic.
Over the past 50 years
when today’s older farmers
were learning and practicing
their trade, there wasn’t
much consideration given to
retirement For many of
those years farmers couldn’t
afford to retire In fact, they
worked until they became
disabled , physically or
mentally, and then a loving.
caring family member took
over where they left off
But it’s a different
financial game these days
and a farmer can’t simply
work until he’s too old and
then turn everything over to
someone else without paying
a heavy financial price.
A sensible solution to
retirement and to the
eventual turning over of a
commercial farm requires a
lot of time and con
sideration And it’s certainly
not something that can be
left until the mam man is in
his seventies or eighties to
decide for himself he’s no
longer able to make it to the
tractor seat
Those farmers who have
been at least moderately
successful and who have
someone else to take their
place should be giving more
thought to retirement. It’s
good for them and it’s good
for the next generation. And
it’s certainly not a death
sentence
There are so many things
farmers can do in retirement
if they’ll give it some thought
and get unhitched from the
idea that the farm won't
work without them
Retiring from farming
may be as simple as turning
over the physical work to
someone else while retaining
management control. Or it
may be as extreme as
moving away and leaving
the entire operation to the
next generation
Some farmers retire by
taking an off-farm job that
gives them income and
keeps them 'busy while
continuing to live on the
farm
Whatever the mode of
retirement, there needs to be
a clear-cut conscious
decision where the farmer
toms over certain tasks and
makes certain com
mitments Otherwise, he
really isn’t retiring And that
isn't fair to himself or to his
replacement
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Jr