farmers wanted

[farmaholic]

So when is the apprentice ready to take over? When they are mature and done playing too hard? When they are making sound common sense decisions. When they are self starters...when they can see what has to be done next and do it without being told. When they are good money mangers and fiscally responsible. When you can see their thirst for knowledge in farming is insatiable and they are always learning new things. When they take calculated risks. When common sense finally settles in.

Everyone will be different.

Passion will be very important.
Resilience
Ambition
Confidence
Standing up for yourself (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[SASKFARMER3]

I like this topic.

Farming has and always be about luck more than brains.

Yes having a wife with a great job does help a lot. That pays the basics of life food, home and relaxation.

But a farm should not be bought and sold to the next generation every 40 years.

Yes any 50 plus farmer knows e clock is ticking. If I wanted to sit and do jack shit in a million plus home in Hawaii or key west or scots dale would of happened two years ago. Again see insert on timing.

But our farm has always had a long term plan. My father did and so do his father. My kids knew the plan since they were young children.

Land is important as long as Canada doesn't change the ownership rules. Why sell a asset. Siblings leave some sell to family others get a rent check and life goes on.

Back to timing, again watch what is happening to farmers in the USA it will happen in Canada in next few years. Always has always will. They had a boom two years before we caught on.

Right now is time to bail if your leaving and don't care, but if your ready for expansion or splitting up the colony it's just around the corner.

Yes margins are getting so bad and weather still controls the final out come.

Sunny here today 88 above still haven't found that next place to call my second home. But like all things the sun is setting later the days are getting warmer and maybe it's time for the Grey Goose to fly north and do it all over again. Honk.

[farming101]

When the young guys show initiative, ingenuity and have a git-r-done attitude they are ready

In other words when you sense they wish you would get out of the way!

[farmaholic]

when the young guys show initiative, ingenuity and have a git-r-done attitude they are ready

in other words when you sense they wish you would get out of the way!

............old man!!!

[grassfarmer]

Blaithin you have a great opportunity ahead of you to influence these school kids. I think a lot of our future farmers will come from city or town backgrounds rather than farm backgrounds. I think they need to, because that way they will come with the ingenuity and creativity needed to think outside the box and build a farm from nothing. They don't come with the baggage of multi-generational farming history that tends to bring a "you can't to that here" attitude. Many of these new farmers will fail and the biggest cause i've seen is an inability to upscale start up enterprises.

When do the kids take over Farma? Depends on the kids but I firmly believe in giving youngsters responsibility from an early age. I started full time at 16 and was given responsibility for buying some livestock by 17 and all the buying by 20 and was senior partner on management decisions before 30. Looking back I'm very grateful for these opportunities and feel it was ideal for my development. Joel Salatin wrote an excellent book on the subject of farm succession getting kids involved that is well worth reading.

[mbdog]

Don't know what it's like on a purely grain operation mbdog but something that's going to be important for me and I'm sure others once they hit the 50s is having "younger legs" helping out on what is still a fairly physical job when you're working with livestock. I see that as one of the big advantages of starting some type of succession at 50 where you are bringing in people 20-30 years younger than you - it might provide the means to let you continue to farm actively for another 20 years if you want to.

Grain guys also have lots to offer and gain in helping out those "younger legs" looking at livestock. Some pitfalls, but manageable. More to the point...access to land, equipment, mentorship, and possible financial bridging are all in play under my umbrella cause it makes sense. Same could be said for low acre-high input veggie/fruit startups.
Back to my point...i think there's many producer/stakeholders willing to have these conversations, and potential producers need to know this.

[grassfarmer]

Back to my point...i think there's many producer/stakeholders willing to have these conversations, and potential producers need to know this.

So are you looking for somewhere to host the conversations? I know a number of places online where you can meet people wanting to get into farming but I must say I've never seen anyone there seeking to get into purely grain farming. So is there a site where such people congregate? Agriville?

[hobbyfrmr]

"Passion" can mean more and have more value than money!

In this area your "passion" better be worth more than $125.00/acre.

[furrowtickler]

Hobby - same here or be willing to give away 33% of your gross or $300,000 per 1/4 . Number simply don't work at this time .

We are getting the kids envolved now but are focusing on increased productivity other than increasing land base for the time being .

[mbdog]

What are the Parasites doing to ensure they have a new young host to feed off of for his lifetime?

Funny it should fall on the shoulders of those who fought the parasites all their lives.

It doesn't have to be this way. And while this issue isn't my responsibility or a burden I should have to wear/bear, I can have an affect going forward. And if we don't try, we can expect the same results. Too many think and are lined up for the status quo...how well has that worked?

[mbdog]

So are you looking for somewhere to host the conversations? I know a number of places online where you can meet people wanting to get into farming but I must say I've never seen anyone there seeking to get into purely grain farming. So is there a site where such people congregate? Agriville?

At this stage, I'm more interested in best practices and capturing/developing more value from the farm. I have no desire to startup again...but door might be open for someone else to. I haven't found those sites so thought I'd lay it out on AV. And I agree with your comment about where the potential producers could come from and what they will want to "farm".

[therealnorthernf]

hard to justify helping someone else's kid to start farming, when u have spent your life helping others in the area and getting no thanks.. Ya maybe I'm getting crusty too.