This article from New Zealand highlights an issue that is becoming more prevalent as an issue in family farms around the world - succession.
The next generation are looking to make other career choices that do not include running the family farm and it is a cause of distress for many families where farming has been in the family for generations.
Not only is the issue of concern to family farmers, but there are broader issues in terms of the global supply of food that need to be addressed too.
Faced with volatile payouts and ever increasing land values, some established dairy farmers are struggling to pass on the family farm. The average dairy herd has doubled in size over the last 20 years. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin Family members are choosing other careers, there are fewer sharemilkers looking to buy and contract milking and corporate-like structures are increasingly replacing the family unit. When Taranaki dairy farmer Len Jury's sharemilker resigned, the 75-year-old faced a stark decision about what to do with his Omata property, which had been in the family for 170 years.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/country/328950/dairy-farmers-struggle-to-pass-on-the-family-farm
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