How Alberta farmers are planning for the future amid concerns around succession plans

Mike Wind says he's spent two decades getting his farm's succession plan in place.

He's a hay, grain and potato farmer near Purple Springs, Alta., a hamlet about 70 kilometres east of Lethbridge. He and his wife started Windiana Farms in 1989.

One day about 21 years ago, sitting around the dinner table, he asked his five daughters and two sons if any of them had an interest in taking over the family business. After a week thinking it over, his two sons said yes.

"They went to school, graduated, and the plan was that if they wanted to farm, they had to work for me as an employee for five years, after which we would revisit the plan of whether they would like to farm or not. And they did."

It's a discussion that's lacking at a majority of Canadian farms, according to a report released earlier this month by the Royal Canada Bank, Boston Consulting Group and researchers from the University of Guelph. It showed about 66 per cent of Canadian producers don't have a succession plan in place.

The report also predicts that by 2033, 40 per cent of Canadian farm operators will retire. It suggests 30,000 new permanent residents will be needed in the industry over the next decade to fill the gap.

Todd Lewis, first vice president with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and a grain and oilseed producer in Saskatchewan, said they've seen these trends, too, as the average farmer's age rises. 

"We've seen a large consolidation, especially in Western Canada, of farmers that have retired, maybe their sons or daughters don't carry on, they exit the industry. So we're seeing larger farms in many cases," he said. 

Farm values are high right now, which offers some operators an appealing exit strategy.

For those who do have family to whom to leave their farm, transferring land can be complicated, and expensive, making succession planning a challenge.

"We're great planners when it comes to next year's crop or next year's calving season … succession planning is maybe something that's always put on the back burner," Lewis said.

More needs to be done to keep producers in the industry, or encourage news ones to enter, the report says, by promoting agricultural education, boosting research on technology and creating national strategies.

Some young farmers are still forging ahead with plans to keep their generational farms going.

Valerie Ehrenholz, 31, took over her family's cattle and vegetable farm in Barrhead, Alta. — about 120 kilometres northwest of Edmonton — six years ago.