Unintended consequences of farm gifts

Focus on Farm Transition videos provide strategies and advice to help you navigate the key challenges and questions that arise during the farm transition journey.

Look at your operation – are there things of value that are being exchanged and not tracked? In this episode of Focus on Farm Transition, Patti Durand, agriculture transition specialist looks at the best way to handle farm “gifts” likes labour and equipment to avoid unintended consequences.

Key takeaways

• “Gifts” refers to any goods or services exchanged, but not charged for. 

• Main examples are exchange of labour and equipment, but also include free or cheap land rent, use of company vehicles, crop inputs, fuel, housing, childcare, utilities, catering, gifted company shares, bookkeeping, etc.

• Humans want to be valued – by not tracking gifts you risk future relationships, even if everything is fine now. 

• Tracking doesn’t mean more transactions or money exchanges – it’s an accurate history of what was exchanged. 

• Keep it simple by just using a spreadsheet and reference your provincial equipment rental rates. 

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