findings from the white paper <\/a>highlighted the extent of the succession challenge ahead for the agricultural sector.<\/p>\n\u201cSuccession is not a moment in time \u2013 it\u2019s a process that takes years of planning, conversation and adaptation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
New models<\/p>\n
\u201cThe traditional model of passing the farm to the next generation is under pressure, but there are new and innovative models emerging that can help families stay connected to their land,\u201d Charteris said.<\/p>\n
He said data collected for the white paper found that only one in three farmers had a formal succession plan in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cA further 17% have discussed succession with the relevant parties, but nothing is documented, leaving exactly 50% who had neither discussed succession nor commenced a succession plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the research also found that one-third of farmers intend to pass their farm to their children, yet 39% reported having no children seriously interested in farming.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many Kiwi farmers, the dream is that one of the kids will take over the farm. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe flipside is that it can also be experienced as a feeling of pressure or a sense of responsibility by the next generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking over the family farm involves committing to decades of indebtedness in a sector that is subject to volatility and uncertain returns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt remains a big call for a 20-something and their bank.\u201d<\/p>\n
While this is the case, Charteris said, data collected for the paper suggested the financial obstacles to farm ownership had plateaued in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith total package values for farm employees keeping pace with the increase in land valuations over the period 2011\u20132024, the succession cliff appears less steep recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the challenges to get on the ladder remain high, particularly with the increased scale of farming and need to increase margins to support borrowing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The paper also highlighted several increasingly prominent succession models, including hybrid ownership models and corporate structures, which are being adopted to help farming families stay connected to the land.<\/p>\n
\u201cA number of New Zealand\u2019s largest-scale, most productive and environmentally responsible farming businesses are either fully corporate or run under M\u0101ori-owned incorporation models,\u201d Charteris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we get this right, we can unlock new pathways for young Kiwis who are passionate about farming \u2013 whether they\u2019re farming mad, farming curious or farming adjacent \u2013 to own a share of a greater pie.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said most of the farmers spoken to in the process of compiling the white paper had been looking at succession for years, and all of them wished they\u2019d started the process earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For existing growers, Siebert said this change was already being felt. \u201cSome are planning succession, others are considering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[57097,18659,138,3595,4500,9881,3233,2964,8482,2454,19720,13840,111,139,69,1118,193,9769,3169,46440,3175,8610,1551,14939,61],"class_list":["post-225384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-57097","tag-avocado","tag-business","tag-by","tag-changes","tag-facing","tag-farm","tag-half","tag-huge","tag-industry","tag-land","tag-like","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-other","tag-owners","tag-ownership","tag-retire","tag-rural","tag-sectors","tag-set","tag-succession","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}