A NEW and unique model to help resolve “stuck” family farm succession planning processes, that involve complex, personal inter-generational financial decisions, should be backed by political leaders and shared with other agricultural communities.
That’s the view of federal Independent MP Cathy McGowan who has already made overtures on the innovative concept to Regional Development Minister Fiona Nash, believing it can help boost the nation’s agricultural output by revitalising farm land ownership.
A delegation from the Alpine Valley Dairy Pathway Project (AVDPP) from Ms McGowan’s Indi electorate, visited Canberra late last month for talks with a range of federal MPs and Senators and ministers, where they ventilated their innovative model that can alleviate stifled farm succession planning processes.
Meetings included talks with officials from; the office of Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce and Senator Nash; Shadow Agriculture and Regional Australia Minister Joel Fitzgibbon; Assistant Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Anne Ruston; and Greens agricultural spokesperson Janet Rice.
The collaboration of community members represents dairy farmers and other relevant stakeholder groups from the Towong Shire Council, Indigo Shire Council, Alpine Shire Council and the Rural City of Wangaratta.
AVDPP Chair Stuart Crosthwaite said the proactive talks in Canberra focussed on letting federal members of parliament and ministers know what the group was doing strategically and pragmatically, to grow dairy farming and agriculture output, in their section of north-east Victoria.
“We’re trying to navigate some solutions to grow dairy production in the region,” he said.
“It’s a fantastic place for dairy farming with a great set of key resources like reliable rainfall and access to a good population around Albury and Wodonga.
“Our region also provides great access to services for the farm but mostly, it’s just a beautiful place to live.”
Ms McGowan said the group’s farm succession planning program was breaking new ground and deserved the wider attention of other farm industry and political leaders.
“I’ve got a demand for Fiona Nash; that she looks at the model this group has put forward - which works in a similar way to Rural Financial Counselling Services and Landcare - and take some responsibility for rolling it out in other areas,” she said.
“I’ve put a proposal to the Minister Nash and I’ve talked to her about it and she’s interested in the idea, but it may not fit into guidelines for eligibility for the Building Better Regions Fund.
“What this group has done is looked at the problem, conducted some analysis and put a plan together.
“They have a target that says in two years’ time 50 per cent of the farmers in their catchment area will have a farm succession transition plan in place.
“Already, 35pc (of 150 dairy farmers) have a plan so they’re well and truly on their way to achieving that target, having recognised it as one of the major barriers to agricultural and community growth.”
AVDPP spokesperson Patten Bridge said the group conducted an initial survey on farm succession planning with Melbourne University and received a 50pc response rate from those in the region.
Mr Bridge said the survey asked local farmers if they needed any supported assistance with succession planning and they ticked the box to participate.
That initial analysis said over 70pc of farm owners did not have a succession plan written down and agreed to by family members and 60pc didn’t have a retirement plan.
“We’ve had funding now to deal with 25 farms and take them from a position of basically being ‘we don’t know where to start’ to a journey where they’re actually committed to a pathway of transition,” Mr Bridge said.
“Our key point is that if we do that, we’ve got a much higher likelihood of those farmers staying in dairy.
“With the dairy industry, if you don’t have a plan you go out of dairy because it’s too hard and too complex to stay in dairy, if you’re not clear about how to do it.
“We’ve said the investment to give these farmers the plan and put them on a defined pathway around that transition process is an incredibly strong investment in the future of dairy.
“Once the land is gone, you don’t get it back and we need that high quality land to stay in dairy production.”
Mr Crosthwaite said the biggest barrier to any farm succession planning process was “getting started”.
“This intervention program is aimed at getting the farmers to the starting line and once they’re at the starting line they need to start investing themselves because it’s their own business that will benefit from it ultimately,” he said.
Mr Bridge has been coordinating the farm succession planning program that he says is about giving the farmers the tools and resources they need to take the right steps forward.
To help overcome any stalled farm transition planning, the group helps to point farmers in the direction of those with the professional skills and experience to guide the way forward, like bankers and accountants.
“We know succession planning is a complex area in terms of the personal aspects of family communication and financial decisions,” Mr Bridge said.
“What that generally means is that families get stuck and the issue gets put into the too hard basket.
“The whole nature of our concept is to actually help the families take their succession planning out of the too hard basket so we designed the Getting Started Program which allows for a one on one intervention around the kitchen table with the farm owners, to actually map their farm succession transition situation and then link that with a series of actions that are appropriate, because every single one is different.
“You don’t have to complete the whole program because that becomes a user pays exercise but what this is all about is putting in one and a half or two days of supported activity into these stuck situations to understand what’s going on and then take the steps to allow the transition to flow.
“It’s more listening to each family situation and finding out where they’re stuck because they’re all stuck at a different point.”
Ms McGowan said the group’s farm succession planning model should be shared nationally because it would boost help to agriculture’s overall output.
“Agriculture is performing really well at the moment but to achieve longer-term growth, for the industry, we actually need to ensure that the young people come in and that they have ownership of the land,” she said.
“We can’t have the older people hanging onto it forever – we’ve got to get the transition to the next generation and it’s really hard work.
“These guys have found a model in an industry and a community that’s really working well and we’ve got many people now talking about what their plans are going to be and how to transition.
“When I talk to the ministers here in Canberra they talk about how we can grow agriculture - but if we could solve succession planning problems we can go a long way towards achieving it.”
Ms McGowan told parliament in a speech the group - which started in 2011 - had a model with, “huge potential to get grassroots communities, local government authorities, state governments and industry to all work together”.
She said the AVDPP’s strategic plan aimed to increase milk production by 80pc by 2025 and which would mean growing the local industry by 400 million litres and their work also involved a focus on boosting education.
“Recent Dairy Australia figures indicate milk production in the region has already increased by 30 per cent in the last 10 years, despite the drought, so there is so huge potential to grow it more,” she said.
A report into agricultural innovation from a House of Representatives inquiry in the previous parliament also looked at farm succession planning, in terms of farm output.
“Rabobank’s submission identified succession in farm ownership to younger generations as a key enabler of the adoption of innovative technologies,” it said.
“It also acknowledged that succession is dependent upon proper planning by current owners and the successful identification of new owners.
“The Alpine Valleys project found that few of its members had clear succession plans and some had retired without successfully transferring ownership to younger dairy farmers.
“The project’s trial to support succession planning may prove a useful model for other farmers’ groups.”