92 per cent of Canadian farms have no transition plan ready, Stats Can says

Future of Canadian family farms at risk

By Jessica Smith Cross
The Canadian Press
Jul 16, 2017

Excerpt:

A growing number of farmers are nearing retirement without having formally planned for their successors, putting the next generation of small-scale farming at risk — something Maynard and advocates are urging farming families to think about.

“Our grandfather didn’t really want to talk about selling the farm, ever, until it was too late and he had to,” Maynard said.

A Statistics Canada study found last year that the average age of Canadian farmers had reached 55 after rising for decades, and 92 per cent of farms had no written plan for who will take over when the operator retires.

It also found there were more farmers over age 70, than under 35.

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