Farming isn’t forever

“How are you doing?” old acquaintances will ask.

My standard reply has become, “Old, grey, fat, lazy. Did I mention old? Can’t remember.”

“Still farming?” they ask. When I confirm that indeed I still am, their next question, whether verbalized or not is often about when retirement will occur.

I don’t feel that old, but I’ll turn 65 this year. I’ll stop contributing to Canada Pension Plan and start getting monthly payments. Old Age Security will be available. Even if these supports weren’t available, we wouldn’t have to keep farming, but the payments are a reminder of the reason for all the grey hair.

I don’t want to quit farming and have no intention of doing so anytime soon, but time catches up with everyone. A farming career can be over at any age due to health concerns or an accident. That clock really starts to tick as you enter your senior years.

Our boys have all been involved in the farm to some degree. Hopefully, when I’m long-gone the family will continue to own the land even if they don’t actively farm it.

My wife is worried that I might drop dead or become even more senile and she’ll be left not knowing exactly how to proceed. She does all the books and knows aspects of the finances better than me, but we do need a plan in the event of my untimely demise.

I tell her that lots of farmers are looking to add to their land base and she’d have no trouble renting the land and earning a good annual income. Seems simple to me, but obviously we need a more detailed description on how to proceed. For instance, what would be done with the farm equipment?

They say the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Although aware of our mortality, we sometimes live out our time as if we’re going to be the exception and continue indefinitely.

Everyone knows farmers who have remained active well into their 70s and even 80s. When some of those old timers finally can’t farm anymore their kids might be nearing normal retirement age. There are cases where the farm is being continued by a grandson or granddaughter.

Our grandkids are still very young, so I better lay off the salt, sugar and alcohol and get more exercise if I want to consider that as a remote possibility.

I like farming and it has become a lot more fun in recent years. We have better equipment than ever before. Flat bottomed bins have almost all been replaced with hoppers. We work back and forth with neighbours for mutual benefit.

And there’s money to be made. It would have been a lot more profitable in the last couple years had there been adequate rainfall. Thank goodness for crop insurance. Without any debt and without a bunch of land rental payments, we’re doing OK.

What would I do if I wasn’t farming? My golf game sucks. Spending some time in a swimming pool is good, but I’m not really into water sports, fishing or hunting. Short excursions and vacations are also good, but we don’t want to be away from our kids and grandkids for too long.

Watching the sky and trying to anticipate the direction of crop and input prices can be frustrating, but it’s less stressful when you’re in a reasonably comfortable financial position.

No one can farm forever, but you can have fun trying.