Dl6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 25,1984
When you talk with farmers
about retirement, you get some
really interesting reactions. As a
group, farmers 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 in 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 Amei .can
agricultural dream involves a
successful farmer bringing his
children and/or their spouses into
the business - guiding them along
as they develop toward the time
when the farmer himself can start
taking it a little easier. The father-
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Farm
Talk
by
Jerry Webb
Delaware Extension
son partnership is as traditional on
American farms as bales of hay,
and I would guess that 9 out of 10 of
today’s young farmers are either
farming with one of more prents,
have taken over an operation upon
the parents’ retirement, or have
inherited a farm. After all, in
today’s high dollar farming there
aren't many other ways to get
started.
But what about the farmers who
don’t have sons or sons-m-law or
whose offspring don’t want to
farm’ What are they doing about
retirement’ In general, I would
say not much. I recall a con
versation with two brothers, both
very successful, large-scale
operators, who farm in part
nership with no obvious
replacements when it comes their
time to retire. When asked, both
agreed that they had no plants for
retirement In fact, they don’t even
intend to retire.
I suppose to die with one's
overalls on in the midst of corn
planting would be a glorious way to
go, but it’s not very realistic.
Over the past 50 years when
today’s older farmers were
backed in the field Nobody
makes a tougher gearbox or a
stronger structure Galvaniz
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trade, there wasn i much con
sideration given to retirement For
many of those years, farmers
couldn’t afford 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 com
mercial farm requires a lot of time
and consideration. And it’s cer
tainly not something that can be
left until the main 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 mangement
control. Or it may be as extreme as
moving away and leaving the
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entire operation
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
Calibration workshop set
NEWARK, Del. - Corn planting
time is fast approaching. How good
a job of seeding will you do this
year’ “Decisions made at planting
time may well affect the results at
harvest,” says University of
Delaware extension agricultural
engineer Tom Williams. Some
crops have the ability to com
pensate for poor planting prac
tices, but most do best when they
are seeded uniformly.
Planting was one of the first
operations to be mechanized. The
first com planter, patented in 1839,
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stooping. Today a farmer can plant
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riding in an air conditioned tractor
cab and relying on electronic
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working.
Planting can consist of applying
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opening a seed furrow, metering
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retirement, there needs to be a
clear-cut conscious decision where
the farmer turns over certain tasks
and makes certain commitments.
Otherwise, he really isn't retiring.
And that isn’t fair to himself or to
his replacement
next
complished at the same tune.
Having all these materials coming
out of the planter at the intended
rates under varying conditions can
be critical, and depends on proper
calibration of all metering
mechanisms, Williams says.
A calibration workshop to
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techniques will be held at the
Delaware State Fairgrounds on
Route 13 in Harrington, on
Thursday, March 1, beginning at 10
a.m. Com planters, row fertilizer,
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