Why Do Farm Founders Avoid Transition Planning?
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
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Why Do Farm Founders Avoid Transition Planning?
For this week’s episode, we are flashing back to an excellent episode from last fall.
This episode is titled “Why Do Farm Founders Avoid Transition Planning,” with Terry Betker and it goes deep into why farm founders avoid transition planning. Terry draws on decades of experience working with farm founders on transition planning. He even shares some personal reflections on the topic.
Why re-broadcast? Since we are doing a deep dive into transition planning and the fears, worries, and concerns of each generation involved, I found myself thinking about this conversation with Terry and wanted to air it again as it’s a real and honest conversation about what keeps farm founders up at night.
So, with that being said, I hope you enjoy this episode….
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In today’s episode, Tracy chats with Terry Betker in this episode titled “Why Do Farm Founders Avoid Transition Planning?”
Is it finally time to address the elephant in the room?
The industry has encouraged farmers to create a transition plan for decades, yet little progress has been made. So, one needs to ask, do farmers purposefully avoid transition planning?
In this week’s episode, Tracy and Terry speak about:
- If farmers know they need to do transition planning and plenty of information is available, why are they not doing it?
- Is it finally time to address the elephant in the room? Are farm founders purposefully avoiding this subject? Tracy and Terry open the cans of words and get to some real talk about transition.
- Tracy has also noticed that it tends to be the farmwife, farm mom, female farm founder who pushes the subject of transition planning. She asks Terry if he has observed this, and they chat about gender differences, concerns, and roles on the farm.
- She asks Terry what he has noticed in his over 30 years of experience working with farm families on transition. Why do farmers avoid transition planning?
- What are ways to help farmers want to make this transition before it’s too little too late?
Tracy and Terry discuss matters in this episode that are rarely discussed…the humanness, immortality, and conflicting desires of the farm founder.
If you are looking for a deep, meaningful, honest conversation on transition planning, you will want to tune into this episode.
Thanks for tuning in friends,
Tracy
*Rebroadcast of October 30, 2024, episode
**This episode mentions an event that was holding. Please note this was in 2024. Please connect with Backswath Management if you are interested in their transition planning services.
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🔗 Resources & Links:
Visit Backswath Management's website here: https://backswath.com
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About the Guest
Terry BetkerPresident & CEO of Backswath Management Inc.
Terry is President and CEO of Backswath Management Inc., a company that provides business management expertise to farm families across Canada on strategic and business planning, transition planning, financial analysis, benchmarking and human resource management.
Terry has delivered presentations on farm business management throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, Poland, Tasmania and the Netherlands. He teaches at the University of Manitoba. Terry is a professional agrologist, a certified agricultural consultant and a certified management consultant. He is the 2015 recipient of Farm Management Canada’s Wilson Loree award, recognizing his contribution to developing and promoting new and positive change in agricultural business management practices and expertise in Canada.
Connect with Terry Betker - LinkedIn / Twitter / Facebook / Website
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⚠️ Disclaimer - As always, this information is not intended to provide business or medical advice. To ensure that your own circumstances have been properly considered and that action is taken based on the latest information available, you should obtain professional advice from qualified business or medical professionals before acting on any of the information in this post.
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The Impact Farming Show
Welcome to Impact Farming, Farm Marketer's video and audio show dedicated to helping Canadian farmers excel in the business of farming. Our goal with this show is to introduce our audience to the people and ideas that are going to make an IMPACT on their farming operation.
Show Host - Tracy Brunet
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Tracy and her husband are cattle ranchers in South East, Manitoba. As host of the show, primary producer and agvocate, Tracy is passionate about helping farmers succeed in the business of farming.
In each episode, Tracy chats with today's most successful farm advisors and industry leaders to bring our audience the best and most important ideas.
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