The importance of keeping farm legacies alive is undeniable.  Many farm families in Canada are reeling from the proposed tax changes, the biggest changes seen in 45 years. I just attended a webinar today on tax changes and their impact on farm families, so I encourage you to have a meeting soon with your accountant. Uncertainty creates fear, so visit the plans you have in place for your legacy.

And while there are those that might say politics, environment, and other factors are hurting the farming industry, it is not the only culprit ripping away at the threads of the farm family. Much too often, the farm family degrades from the inside out.

So I ask you, what steps are you taking to protect your farm legacy?

As someone who has been through two farm transition plans with my family of origin, my in-laws and now my son and daughter-in-law, I know the struggle and how difficult it can be to keep positive lines of communication open with the farm family and farm team. This is why I chose to spend the last decade working with farm families to help facilitate better communication and transition. During this time, I have seen the best of the best and the worst of the worst.  I have seen families, and farm operations, completely fall apart because they just cannot communicate with one another effectively.

[Tweet “Here’s why (and how) you need to start protecting your #farm #legacy.”]

But I realize that I physically cannot be everywhere and help everyone, although I have given it a great try by traveling to work with farm families in many different countries including Mexico, Australia, the United States and of course here in Canada. So, to reach more people, I turned to the internet and through my books, blog, and Grainnews I have been able to provide the valuable information that so many farm families need to ‘get unstuck’ and continue their farm legacy.

And last week, I released my fourth book, Building Your Farm Legacy: Tools to Empower Better Family Communication. This book is a compilation of my most valuable articles organized in chapters that deal with specific hurdles that farm families face, including:

• Relationships
• Communication
• Teams & Operations
• Planning
• Succession
• Healthy Habits

This book was designed to be used as a valuable tool and is highly interactive, filled with exercises and questions and places to keep notes. It can be used by every member of the family and farm team to start working towards better communication, improved conflict resolutions and solutions for the continuance of your farm business.

My true hope is that this book will be used to plant seeds of new ideas to embrace habits for better relationships and ultimately build the legacy of your farm.

So, I ask you again: What steps are you taking to protect your farm legacy?

You can take the first step by heading over to our store and grabbing your copy of Building Your Farm Legacy. Now through October 1^st, we are running an introductory special: Get hard copies of both Building Your Farm Legacy and Farming’s In-Law Factor for just $47 plus shipping (regularly $60).

Take action now,  don’t let procrastination kill the legacy of your farm family.