Generational farming, a term coined and applied to those that have been working the land for years, passing down their knowledge and skills to their kin.
Sadly, it's often not sunshine and rainbows for those involved. The sheer level of arguments, disputes and law suits you can hear aboutsuccession planning for farming land or enterprises is a disheartening reality that accompanies handling multi-million dollar assets that have a strong emotional value attached to them.
Multi-generational farming businesses have been ripped apart from the smallest disagreements and can often be centred around different family members having varying levels of involvement in the day-to-day business and management structure.
Luckily, this is a problem that is beginning to have an increasingly more viable solution as we advance in the way we manage our farms and agricultural businesses.
We have a fantastic opportunity in the current technological climate to reduce the importance of distance and physical presence within our family farming businesses.
As paper documentation and physical recording/analysis is slowly phased out of the industry, a plethora of opportunities arise for family members to have a direct involvement in the management and operation of their family business.
Now, obviously this isn't the solution for everyone, but I'm personally very excited and reassured by the fact I have the chance to remotely aid my family in running our beef production business while pursuing a career that is giving me a level of experience outside of livestock management.
We in agriculture, particularly in the farming sector, can be a tough bunch, used to the harsh conditions of rural Australia and that 'get the job done' attitude that allows small families to run massive amounts of assets with a very low employee count.
However, with our industry becoming more and more advanced and regulated there comes a time we need to lean on others to help get the job done, to stay updated and across things like biosecurity, vegetation management, animal welfare standards, chemical management, data analytics and genetic selection to name a small few.
These aren't easy, but with a little extra help that you can often find remotely in family or friends, our generational farming can become seamless, efficient and most importantly, happy.
- Callan Daley, youth agvocate
