Succession & Sustainability

Why are so many farms being broken up?

Look at the history of High Leas. None of the farmers, in the last 150 years, seems to have handed over to his child..

Property prices are now such that no-one could possibly buy the place (using borrowed money) and make a living farming.

An elderly investor left the property to a suburban type in his fifties and two university students, and Inheritance Tax relief meant that they weren’t forced to sell it immediately. How can they now introduce a youngish farmer, someone who is old enough to have the necessary experience but not so old as to have lost the idealistic commitment of youth?

(By the way, what a great place to bring up children!)

The 20th century landlord and tenant system kept the asset (the property) separate from the farm business. This system would appear to be unworkable in the future, because so much investment will be needed that there will surely have to be borrowings against the property. But we must remember that the two farmers who actually owned the farm seem to have overstretched themselves financially in trying to improve it……….we must make improvements that will last, and they must then be maintained, not abandoned.

We must also strive to establish a system that treats the people concerned well enough that they are content to leave their money invested in it for a long time.

Would any form of shared ownership work?