Keep it in the family with expert help

He had analysed what happens when a farm is passed on to the next generation and was surprised at the lack of information surrounding this tricky and sensitive issue.

Prof Errington, of Seale Hayne University in Plymouth, said one of the most critical stages in any farm business is the transfer of its ownership and control to the next generation.

He added: "However, the process by which this transfer is achieved has been one of the least researched facets of farm business management."

It's a fact that kitchen table discussions about inheritance can cause not just heartache, but family bust-ups and long-standing resentments. Kate Dale is now trying to provide practical help for families in this situation.

Kate, the co-ordinator of the Yorkshire Rural Support Network, says: "Handing over a farm can be fraught with difficulties as for most farmers it is an emotional as well as business decision.

"The past 20 years have seen a great change in the way we operate as farms. We are now facing up to the vagaries of world markets, our inputs are up and then down, the price of commodities is up and down too.

"There isn't the stability we have had in the past, but there are still a lot of young people who want to take on the family farm and who are prepared to embrace change.

"Errington found that 80 per cent of full-time farmers were the children of farmers, but interestingly only 50 per cent were farming the same land as their fathers.

"Many had moved away from the 'home' farm to set up additional farming operations to the existing family farm.

"He expounded the theory that 'family continuity does not imply geographical immobility'."

Lorne Owen, a farm management specialist in British Columbia, warned that older farmers nearing handover time may also be disinvesting as a means of providing for their retirement.

Unless he has made adequate pension provision, he may regard the family farm as his nest egg.

Should family members receive equal shares? If there are several siblings and one or two have put their whole life into the farm, is it fair to split it up in order to pay out brothers and sisters who may have made their lives elsewhere?

In the Dales the old way was to follow the rule of partible inheritance – splitting up the farm into smaller parcels for the farmer's children. North Yorkshire adopted primogeniture – passing on the farm intact to the eldest child, as the norm.

According to Raymond Twiddle this is outmoded.

"I think giving the farm to the eldest member of the family is not perhaps the right way forward," he says.

"If you want good succession, you should give the farm to the person in the family who has the ability to run it."

Mr Twiddle, who made his name through turkey farming, is a director and trustee of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and chairs an upcoming meeting on this issue.

"I think many farming families are afraid to take legal advice," he adds.

"They're often afraid to give the younger members of their family some lead or responsibility. I'm a great believer in youth. Give youth a fling, but also keep the dog lead on, don't let them run too fast.

"I think back to when I first started in business and you are very reluctant to give responsibility to other people or to let others know exactly what your affairs are. I don't think it's pride.

"It's just that what you've done all your life – and then to let somebody else in on it is not an easy thing to do.

"The thing with succession is to have all the cards marked in the right places so that there is less trouble when you do move on.

"If the farmer can let the family, or the person who is going to succeed him, know at an earlier age I think it would relieve what can sometimes cause a lot of pain and upset.

"I know a person who is a very good farmer today and who has allowed his son to come in at an early age. But his own father didn't allow him to do that. He was nearly 40 before he got the opportunity to farm on his own.

"It seems to me a lot of people are afraid to bring in the lawyers and experts, either because of cost or because they are then sharing a problem with someone from outside the family.

"Personally I've always found that confidentiality is a great thing and if you put your trust in the right person you're as safe as houses."

Mr Twiddle will be chairing an advice meeting at Kirkbymoorside Golf Club on Wednesday, February 24, at 6.30pm.

It has been organised by the Yorkshire Rural Support Network and will have a panel of speakers with knowledge and experience of handing over the reins.