I'm due to inherit a farm that I'm not interested in: what are my options?

wherearewe45

My dad still has the farm and has no intention of giving up the farming for at least another 20 years but since I was old enough to walk I've always known that the farm would be handed over to me some day - no other relatives to inherit it. The farm has been in the family for generations and so I'm almost totally against selling as I see it as a part of my family's heritage. I've been raised and worked on the farm for most of my life but I've no real interest in taking it over in its current form.

My ideal situation is that I'd like to keep the farm but maybe convert what it's used for. It's currently beef (was beef/dairy) but I'd be interested in keeping it if I could use the land for some other purpose. What options do I have in this regard? Where should I look and who should I talk to?

It's something I'd like to discuss with my parents as we have not openly discussed inheritance yet but I'd like to have something to say when the conversation does come up.

Farm is just over 110 acres and is located on the west of Ireland.

tismesoitis

Trees can give a substantial income.

pedigree 6

You say you don't want to sell it and it's a family generation thing. So I presume you want to hand it over to your son or daughter the way that you're getting it.

So set the land to another farmer over more than 5 years and get the money tax free. Now there might be some conditions to getting it tax free. But let the farmer work the land and if you have family who are interested in taking over then the farm is still there.

biko

What is it about the farm that you don't like? Could you change to sheep or some other livestock perhaps?

Otherwise there is a host of things you might want to try; paintball grounds, go-karting, some adventure centre, petting zoo, ...

Your imagination is the limit

wherearewe45

tismesoitis wrote: »

Trees can give a substantial income.

this was actually my first suggestion for what to do with it

pedigree 6 wrote: »

You say you don't want to sell it and it's a family generation thing. So I presume you want to hand it over to your son or daughter the way that you're getting it.

So set the land to another farmer over more than 5 years and get the money tax free. Now there might be some conditions to getting it tax free. But let the farmer work the land and if you have family who are interested in taking over then the farm is still there.

this is probably the best idea. I doubt that after moving away from farming for a generation I'd end up with kids that really want to get into it but I guess you enver know

biko wrote: »

What is it about the farm that you don't like? Could you change to sheep or some other livestock perhaps?

Otherwise there is a host of things you might want to try; paintball grounds, go-karting, some adventure centre, petting zoo, ...

Your imagination is the limit

I just don't like how I'd be tied to it. I've a master's degree and I'd prefer to focus on work related to my college background and it wouldn't even be feasible to work the farm and have a second job given that I'll probably be based in limerick or cork (both of which are at least an hour away) at the very least within 10 years

kupus

You are going to get hit with inheritence tax as well just be aware of that. But as far as i know if you farm it yourself for the first 5 years you can become exempt.
Dont take my word for it though. Theyll be others along, thatll know more than me.

kupus

You are going to get hit with inheritence tax as well just be aware of that. But as far as i know if you farm it yourself for the first 5 years you can become exempt.
Dont take my word for it though. Theyll be others along, thatll know more than me.

Miname

His fathers aiming for another twenty years farming, I'd say inheritance taxes will be fairly different in twenty years. Bachelors degree, PhD, cert, Plc or whatever, there's plenty on here that never would have put themselves farming that are and id say a lot wouldn't see themselves doing anything different now. I presume youre fairly young don't write off anything until you've tried a bit.

49801

Miname wrote: »

His fathers aiming for another twenty years farming, I'd say inheritance taxes will be fairly different in twenty years. Bachelors degree, PhD, cert, Plc or whatever, there's plenty on here that never would have put themselves farming that are and id say a lot wouldn't see themselves doing anything different now. I presume youre fairly young don't write off anything until you've tried a bit.

Another 20years is a long time. Your perspective may have changed quite a bit come the time itself. So don't rule anything out

Grueller

Miname wrote: »

His fathers aiming for another twenty years farming, I'd say inheritance taxes will be fairly different in twenty years. Bachelors degree, PhD, cert, Plc or whatever, there's plenty on here that never would have put themselves farming that are and id say a lot wouldn't see themselves doing anything different now. I presume youre fairly young don't write off anything until you've tried a bit.

Best advice yet. 15 years ago I had gone away from the farm, down the college road and was seriously contemplating never going back to it in any shape or form. I am now working in the field that I trained at in college and farming 115 acres part time in partnership with the father. Realistically I am doing 80% of the work now and that is fine too but now I am thinking strongly of drastically reducing the time in the job to make time to farm. As Miname says, 20 years is a long time.
My advice would be get a house bought and paid for and with the mortgage monkey off your back you will have a lot of freedom to choose what you want to do when the time comes. Best of luck with your decision.

tractorporn

wherearewe45 wrote: »

My dad still has the farm and has no intention of giving up the farming for at least another 20 years but since I was old enough to walk I've always known that the farm would be handed over to me some day - no other relatives to inherit it. The farm has been in the family for generations and so I'm almost totally against selling as I see it as a part of my family's heritage. I've been raised and worked on the farm for most of my life but I've no real interest in taking it over in its current form.

My ideal situation is that I'd like to keep the farm but maybe convert what it's used for. It's currently beef (was beef/dairy) but I'd be interested in keeping it if I could use the land for some other purpose. What options do I have in this regard? Where should I look and who should I talk to?

It's something I'd like to discuss with my parents as we have not openly discussed inheritance yet but I'd like to have something to say when the conversation does come up.

Farm is just over 110 acres and is located on the west of Ireland.

It saddens me to say that I am in a similar situation to the op, but just a bit closer to end game. We have a bit more land and my Dad is now in his 70's. I have a good job and a gra for the land but while my heart says farm, my head asks why I would leave a decent job for a 50% reduction in pay for twice as much hardship. I will be the first in 4 generations on our farm to have to have a job as well as farm.

I will probably try and part time farm for as long as I can but the old man will not entertain getting rid of the cows or the ewes. I work away for a portion of the week so I'm of no use to him then and he wont hear of a change in farming to drystock or the like.

The farm needs some investments in housing and fencing and a few other bits but at the moment I cant see how any of that will be made back. We have applied for every scheme going this year just to bump up the money coming in the gate. But the money just isn't there to justify spending a heap of money. Maybe I'm just looking at it with too much of a business attitude.

Unfortunately I can see myself working a full time job and maybe renting out some of the ground away from the yard to the dairy men around here. And setting up the easiest system I can for myself on the bit of ground around the house.

As for your question I think you are as well off to sit on it fro a while. As the lads have said 20 years is a long time and you may change your mind. If you plant it its that way permanently, if you lease it at least you have the option of taking back some of it and starting out small if the gra comes back to ya. Well that's what happened to me anyway I was working abroad and then I realised I'd be much happier if I was at home.

Whatever you decide best of luck with it.

Farrell

tractorporn wrote: »

It saddens me to say that I am in a similar situation to the op, but just a bit closer to end game. We have a bit more land and my Dad is now in his 70's. I have a good job and a gra for the land but while my heart says farm, my head asks why I would leave a decent job for a 50% reduction in pay for twice as much hardship. I will be the first in 4 generations on our farm to have to have a job as well as farm.

I will probably try and part time farm for as long as I can but the old man will not entertain getting rid of the cows or the ewes. I work away for a portion of the week so I'm of no use to him then and he wont hear of a change in farming to drystock or the like.

The farm needs some investments in housing and fencing and a few other bits but at the moment I cant see how any of that will be made back. We have applied for every scheme going this year just to bump up the money coming in the gate. But the money just isn't there to justify spending a heap of money. Maybe I'm just looking at it with too much of a business attitude.

Unfortunately I can see myself working a full time job and maybe renting out some of the ground away from the yard to the dairy men around here. And setting up the easiest system I can for myself on the bit of ground around the house.

As for your question I think you are as well off to sit on it fro a while. As the lads have said 20 years is a long time and you may change your mind. If you plant it its that way permanently, if you lease it at least you have the option of taking back some of it and starting out small if the gra comes back to ya. Well that's what happened to me anyway I was working abroad and then I realised I'd be much happier if I was at home.

Whatever you decide best of luck with it.

Would you consider hiring a guy for a few hours per day to run the show while you're at work for the short term?

tractorporn

Farrell wrote:

Would you consider hiring a guy for a few hours per day to run the show while you're at work for the short term?

Ermm yeah it's not something I've given any thought to if I'm honest. I was planning to try and convince the boss to let me do my hours in 4 days so at least then I'd have 2/3 days for the farm. I would mean changing the system so we had no births we couldn't afford to lose animals just cos I was away working.

wherearewe45

On a side note that hasn't really been mentioned, would it be feasible to plant the land with a crop every year. Have contractors come in and harvest it and sell it all off.

No livestock

Dickie10

yes but be wary of spuds or even carrots they rape the land, tillage should be grand though although maize will make a lot of muck ttoo

Dickie10

i had a plan to be a part time farmer while teachng as well , now it turns out im nearly full time farming whiile part time teaching, only contract work in adult ed and the odd scendary school job for a few months at a time, suits good enough as its all within 30 miles of me but things really do change. 20 years ago i prob would have walked into a job for life but thats the way things are going, you need a masters to get a part time job now!

wherearewe45

Dickie10 wrote: »

yes but be wary of spuds or even carrots they rape the land, tillage should be grand though although maize will make a lot of muck ttoo

thinking of maize or something along those lines. that'd be the general area I'd be most interested. Couldn't imagine myself as a full/part time farmer. I'm in a city now and I love it. Wouldn't like to live in the country full time.

LasersGoPewPew

I'm in a similar position. I want to go to university inside the next two years to get a degree in finance or computer science as a mature student.

I don't want to sell the farm when it's time for me to take over but I'm very reluctant to farm it at the same time for reasons following.

If I get a decent paying job more than likely it will be in Dublin or one of the bigger cities and as another poster said I couldn't see myself taking a massive pay cut for three times as much hardship. On top of all that our land is scattered with half good ground and the other poor with a layout which makes it difficult to maintain.

If I ever manage to find a woman, get married, have children, I want to provide them with a good standard of living while providing every opportunity I can to make their future better. I want to be able to come home after a days work and help my kids with their homework, bring them to activities, spend time with the wife while and allowing her to have hobbies, explore my own hobbies and interests, help around the house, being there for my kids when they need me the most.

Want to go on holidays? No problem. I'll have to pay a guy to look after the cattle while I'm away, further eating into my payments that are keeping the farm afloat because of the huge maintenance and running costs associated with farming in general. Especially in the West of Ireland
I fail to see most of that coming to fruition if I have to go out constantly changing cattle, fencing, repairing stuff, keeping up with good grassland management, having a good breeding programme, hedge cutting, spraying, cleaning out sheds, commuting cattle from one farm to the other. As we all know there's always something that needs to be done on a farm without fail.

Next we have the farm safety and health aspect. We have the well documented Dangers of cattle and machinery amongst other farming accidents. The crippling loneliness, depression and alcoholism for a large number of bachelor farmers and non bachelors. How about the suicide epidemic among farmers which figures are being massaged and undereported to lessen the stigma on the remaining family and take responsibility away from government of having to provide adequate mental health resources.

I can't fathom other farmers who say farming is great exercise and great for the health. NO IT IS NOT. How many farmers do you know whom are overweight, have numerous health problems, heart conditions, back problems? I know far too many and I bet you do too.
Does farming promote good cardiovascular health? Nope certainly not.

I work hard on the farm, I want to love farming but I see next to zero return from it, because like a lot of farmers we have small payments and get screwed in the factories and marts more often than we gain. I'm working for a slave wage
I also constantly find myself and my parents having to dip into my own/ their own pockets to buy stuff for the farm such as machinery, even little miscellaneous purchases which I never see in farm cash flow budgets constantly being reported from various sources, everything adds up. Upgrade the tractor? New trailer, other types of machinery which makes farming easier, buy land, few tools, bits and bobs? Yep my own/ your own pocket.

OK I could go into dairying and load up on a massive amount of debt to see the ministers targets through while experiencing huge price drops, constant pushes to produce milk as cheap as possible so the markets can pay me less to line the fat pockets of multinationals.

My local so called co-operative formally known as NCF in the olden days are outsourcing jobs from their local bases, have next to no bargaining on prices, high prices even though they have huge buying power. They(upper echelons of management) don't want farmers custom any more in their retail branches which iv heard from the horses mouth but of course would strongly deny to the public eye, supporting local jobs? Only thing Id be supporting is paying their meal expenses.

More cows more turnover more profit they say. Yeah look at the state of NZ farmers who are up to their eyeballs and then some in debt just to increase in numbers, no mention increased workload, costs and stress though because doesn't matter to politicians or advisors/co-ops. Suicide rate among NZ and Irish farmers are at epidemic levels. Price gouging we see in the UK. Hmmm no don't think so, not dairying.

Sure, I love seeing calfs being born healthy and watching them thrive and growing into quality animals which I can be proud of but when the facts and realities are laid bare it's difficult to see positives.

Hopefully my outlook and the circumstances of farming will improve as I get older but for the foreseeable future it isn't for me in a full time job(private sector/public) /part time farming position If I ever have a family.

bogman_bass

If renting it out go for a long term lease. There are plenty of tax incentives out there for a farmer Leasing out land rather than renting plus the farmer leasing it is more likely to maintain the land if he knows he has it for the forseeable future