Farm succession in Australia: why most families leave it too late and what to do about it

By James Brouff, Founder and Group Managing Partner, Bullagreen Rural Specialists

In February 2026, Bloomberg published a feature on Australian farm succession, describing it as a crisis threatening some of the world's biggest farms. The story followed farming families across regional Australia navigating the question of what happens to the land when the generation that built it is ready to step back.

It's a question more Australian farming families are facing right now than at any point in recent history. And most of them are facing it without a plan.

The scale of the challenge facing Australian farming families

There are approximately 134,000 farm businesses in Australia, and 99% of them are family owned and operated, according to the National Farmers' Federation. These are not small enterprises. Australian farms average 72 square kilometres, compared with 1.8 square kilometres in the United States. Many carry significant debt. The average farm carried debt of $1.1 million in 2024, according to Bloomberg's analysis, nearly twice the level of a decade earlier.

The people running these businesses are getting older. RSM's succession research puts the average age of Australian farmers at 63. Deloitte Access Economics analysis found that farmers are five times more likely than the average Australian to still be working past the age of 65.

The assets being transferred are growing in value rapidly. According to ABARES, broadacre farmland grew at an average annual rate of 10.2% over the decade to 2023. Ray White Group data shows Australian farmland ended 2025 at a national median price of $10,979 per hectare, nearly triple the value from 2010.

The combination of an ageing farming population and rapidly appreciating assets creates a situation where the decisions families need to make have become more financially complex, more legally intricate, and more emotionally loaded than at any previous point.

And most families still don't have a plan.

Why succession planning keeps getting deferred

Dairy Australia research found that only 14% of Victorian farmers had finalised a transition plan. CBA analysis suggests succession plans take an average of 12 to 24 months to execute, yet most families don't begin the process until retirement is imminent or a health event forces the conversation.

The reasons are consistent across the industry. The farm is both a business and a way of life, and conversations about transferring it carry emotional weight that makes them easier to postpone. Where multiple children are involved, questions of fairness become complicated quickly. Off-farm children who don't want to farm may still want to realise the asset value. On-farm children who have contributed labour for years may feel entitled to preferential treatment. Both positions are understandable. Neither resolves automatically.

Grant Thornton's Family Business Survey identified succession planning as a top priority for 72% of Australian family businesses, yet the gap between intention and action remains wide.

There is also a financial dimension to the deferral. Many farming families assume succession is primarily a legal and accounting problem, best handled closer to the actual transfer. What they often discover too late is that the financial structure underpinning the business, how it is held, how it is financed, and what liabilities are attached, has a profound effect on what options are available when the time comes.

Leaving the structure unresolved until succession is imminent doesn't just add pressure. In some cases, it eliminates options entirely.

What makes rural succession different from other business succession

Farm succession differs from business succession in several important ways that are worth understanding before you enter the process.

The asset is both the business and often the family's primary residence. Transferring ownership of a farm frequently means transferring the place where the outgoing generation lives. That creates a layer of personal and practical complexity that purely commercial transactions don't carry.

The asset is often illiquid relative to its value. A farm worth several million dollars cannot be divided and distributed the way a share portfolio can. Where there are multiple beneficiaries with competing interests, the only clean resolution may be a sale, which may not be what any party actually wants.

Farmland values have increased dramatically but returns on those values haven't kept pace. According to Rabobank's 2025 farmland price outlook, between 2020 and 2023 median land values in Australia grew 79%. That rapid appreciation is wealth on paper, but it also creates a significant stamp duty and capital gains tax exposure on transfer. Tax-efficient structuring requires time to implement. It cannot be done in the months before a transfer needs to occur.

Debt is a central factor in most transitions. The average farm carried $1.1 million in debt in 2024. In many succession scenarios, the incoming generation takes on that debt as part of the transition, often alongside the obligation to fund retirement for the outgoing generation and compete with off-farm siblings for their share of equity. Finance structure is not a secondary consideration in succession planning. It is central to whether the transition is viable at all.

Why finance needs to be part of the succession conversation from the beginning

The most common mistake Bullagreen Rural Partners sees in succession planning is not leaving it too late, though that is common too. It is treating finance as a separate stream to be dealt with after the legal and family decisions have been made.

Finance structure, family agreement and legal structure need to be developed together. A succession plan that works legally but doesn't work financially is not a succession plan. It's a legal document attached to a problem.

Some specific financial questions that need to be addressed early in the process include:

How is the current debt held, and who services it? If debt is in the outgoing generation's name and secured against land being transferred, the entire facility may need to be restructured as part of the transaction. That process takes time and involves lender assessment of the incoming generation's ability to service it.

What is the retirement funding position of the outgoing generation? If the farm is the primary asset and the retirement plan relies on receiving a lump sum from the incoming generation, the incoming generation needs to be able to fund that payment, usually through borrowing. Their capacity to borrow depends on the structure of the transaction, the current debt level, the earning capacity of the farm, and lender appetite for the scenario.

What is the fair treatment of off-farm beneficiaries, and how is it funded? Where off-farm children are entitled to a share of the estate, that share needs to come from somewhere. Options include insurance structures, carved-out assets, debt funded payouts, and staged payments over time. Each has financial, legal and tax implications that need to be worked through in advance.

Is the current entity structure appropriate for the transition? Family trusts, companies, and partnerships all have different implications for stamp duty, capital gains tax, and asset protection. The entity structure that suited the business at establishment may not be the right structure for a transfer. Changing it requires time and professional coordination.

What a structured approach to succession planning looks like

The families that navigate succession successfully share a few common characteristics. They start earlier than they think they need to. They involve their accountant, solicitor, and financial adviser in the same conversations rather than working with each separately. They treat the process as a business exercise alongside the family one, which means making decisions based on what the numbers support, not just what feels fair.

And they address the finance question early, because finance determines what is possible.

A structured approach typically starts with a full financial diagnostic. What is the current position, including all entities, all assets, all liabilities, all facilities? What does the farm need to generate to service a transition that funds retirement and, where applicable, off-farm beneficiaries? What does the incoming generation need to borrow, and can they serviceably do so?

From that foundation, legal and tax structuring can be developed to reflect what actually works, rather than what looks right on paper.

The process takes time. CBA estimates an average of 12 to 24 months for a succession plan to be executed once started. In practice, well-structured plans often require longer lead times, particularly where entity restructuring or borrowing arrangements need to be put in place before the transfer occurs.

Starting the conversation now, even if the actual transition is years away, creates options. Waiting until the conversation is forced by circumstance removes them.

A note on the current land value environment and its effect on succession

One factor that is creating additional complexity for succession planning right now is the level of Australian farmland values. After nearly tripling since 2010, farmland prices reached a national median of $10,979 per hectare at the end of 2025. Even with the price moderation seen through 2024 and into 2025, rural land values remain at historically elevated levels.

That creates a specific tension in succession planning. The outgoing generation is sitting on significantly more wealth than they would have been a decade ago, which is a good problem to have. But it also means the asset being transferred is larger, the tax exposure on transfer is greater, and the incoming generation's financing requirement is higher than it would have been at lower valuations.

Structures that were put in place when land values were lower may no longer be appropriate. The terms under which a succession might have been negotiated five years ago may not reflect today's asset base or today's borrowing environment.

This is another reason why a current, comprehensive financial review is a useful starting point for any family beginning to think seriously about what succession actually looks like for their specific situation.

The conversation worth starting now

Succession doesn't have to be resolved in one meeting. It rarely is. But the families that arrive at a successful outcome are the ones who started the conversation before pressure forced it, involved the right advisers early, and treated the financial structure as an integral part of the plan, not an afterthought.

If succession is on the horizon for your family, whether that's in two years or ten, the time to start is earlier than feels necessary.

Bullagreen Rural Partners works alongside farming families to support succession planning from initial conversations through to coordinated delivery with legal and accounting advisers. To start that conversation, reach out to us directly.

M: 0461 374 585 | E: rural@bullagreen.au | W: bullagreen.au

General information only. This content does not constitute financial, legal or professional advice and has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs. Please seek appropriate professional advice for your individual circumstances.