Over the past ten years, financial farm planning has shifted from the core family, to spouses, kids, and perhaps non-farming children.

Jacquie Gerrard of Backswath Management spoke at Crop Connect last week about succession planning and bridging the gap between retirement and successor aspirations. She says it can often create worry for farmers.

"They get tied up in all the complexities," she says, "there are really a lot of special tax rules for farms... That's definitely something you want to look into, but people sort of jump there first as being concerned about it, but really there are some simple questions or simple things you need to get a hold of first before getting into all that complex stuff."

Gerrard says it's important to balance what mom and dad want for retirement with what the kids want for taking over the farm. She says the retiring generation should start by writing down all that they hope and dream for in retirement — like a cabin or vacations — to see if it's feasible for what the farm can afford.

"And often times, you know, maybe the farm can't [afford it]," she says, "however, most of the clients I work with, although they may put all that down, they're absolutely willing to make sacrifices for their kids and cut back on some of their retirement dreams just to see their kids succeed."

And sometimes, Gerrard says, in order to make the succession plan financially possible, it's a good idea for farms to make a pre-succession plan.

"Basically, you're going to have to do something different in order to make this work," she explains, "so we're going to have to increase the revenue of the farm, increase our revenue streams so that we have enough money to pay out what everyone wants."

With the conversation open about what both generations want, Gerrard says now is a good time to make expansions or adjustments on the farm.

She suggests using online tools to get started on succession planning, such as Manitoba Agriculture's Farmplan.