There’s a lot to consider and it can seem overwhelming at first. But if you think of succession planning as a process instead of an action, it makes it much less daunting.

Your farm is a deeply important part of who you are, but for many families, off-farm income is needed to keep things going.

When you’re looking at succession plans, it’s really important to find ways to generate enough income for both the retiring and the next generation (we keep coming back to this point, but for good reason).

Succession planning is the perfect opportunity to pause and assess where you’re at, to consider what’s working and what’s not. You might need to change your business model, diversify, invest, or even enter into a partnership to improve your viability.

These are difficult decisions and sometimes the interests of some family members can conflict with the interests of the business. If this happens, know that you’re not the first and won’t be the last to go through it.

A good approach to teasing this out is to discuss these key questions together:

Ifac recommend looking at the skillsets of everyone involved – as businesses evolve, diversify and grow, the owner isn’t always the best person to lead the business.

When you hammer out your overall business strategy for the future, look at individual roles and responsibilities with this in mind: Who’s best placed to do what? Where will people shine?

We’re all most effective when we play to our strengths.

How can I improve viability?

“I’m in a registered farm partnership with my Mam and this has been a brilliant move for us," said Ashleigh Fennell, a new entrant to dairy in Co. Carlow.

"We used to be drystock farmers, but we converted to dairy because we felt that gave us the best chance of continuing to farm into the future.

"When we moved to dairy, we got great advice from ifac that it was the right time to set up a registered farm partnership. Straight away we could maximise the grants available to us and that got us up and running.”

Contact ifac to see how they can help you with your succession planning, and click here to see ifac’s Farm Succession Guide.