THE rising price of agricultural land has made succession planning more important than ever, and for some families, this issue is more complex.
Agriculture business consultant Paul Blackshaw said the rise in farm values has increased interest in the family farm, and in some cases from family members who once weren't interested in the business but now see the increasing value in farm assets.
"Dividing the farm so that everyone gets what they need is becoming increasingly challenging," Mr Blackshaw, from Meridian Agriculture, said.
"Even when families have planned well and invested off–farm or in shares to provide for non–farming members of the family, these assets haven't increased in value as much as the farm."
To support families to navigate the succession planning process, Agriculture Victoria is presenting a series of one–hour webinar workshops presented by Mr Blackshaw along with succession planning specialist Mike Stephens.
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The webinar workshop series address the issues involved in a succession plan and take participants through the steps to develop a plan.
"Communication is really important," Mr Blackshaw said.
"The task here is to keep everyone talking for the best chance of resolving the issues so everyone can live with the decision.
"At one end of the spectrum is to give everything to the farming children and nothing to everyone else, and at the other is to split everything evenly.
"Families need to find where they sit on this spectrum."
The workshop series is free and available for 20 people.
Fire–affected landholders in North East Victoria and East Gippsland are encouraged to register for this program.
Session one which took place on May 3 addressed the topic 'Reality check: Is there enough farm to share between everyone?'
Bookings are available for the following sessions.
Session 2 – Tuesday ,May 10, 7pm to 8pm.
How do we know what each individual wants and how is this achieved?
Session 3 – Tuesday, May 17, 7pm–8pm.
Matching business capacity with family requirements. Do you sell all or some of the farm?
Registration is restricted to 20 people.
A free one–on–one session with Meridian Ag is also available to those who attend at least two webinars.
Register at: https://succession–planning–essentials.eventbrite.com.au.
