All in the family: Farm succession meeting draws packed house in Crossfield, Alta.

More than 100 farmers and farm industry stakeholders packed a Crossfield, Alta., community hall this week for a workshop on farm succession — where farmers develop clear strategies to transfer their operations down to their kids when they retire.

Farm succession and estate planning expert Merle Good says his consulting firm holds about 24 of these workshops across the prairie provinces every year and interest has grown as more farmers near retirement and more of their kids are choosing to take over the family business.

If the plan is to keep the farm operation going and in the family, Good says that transition means family members also need to relate as business partners.

"So in our succession, it's not just about the assets, it's about trying to transfer the skills, the knowledge and the experience," said Good.

He says the idea is to transfer the business and property over a longer period instead of depending on a will alone, but adds times have changed and children taking an operation over will need a clear strategy and business plan.

"These young people want clarity. They want to understand why they're choosing farming as a career, so they're pushing their parents, which is rightfully so, to say, no, we're not entitled millennial brats, we are wanting to get clarity," he said.

"If the parents are not willing to give that clarity, they will not have a successful business."

According to a 2016 Statistics Canada Farm Survey, the average age of farm operators across the country is around 55-years-old.

Jack Richardson is planning to retire and is researching how to create the best plan to transfer his farm to his children, while ensuring long-term financial security for himself.

"I would like to see them carry on with it, so at the least if my grandkids want to be a farmer, they can," he said.