Heather Wildman joins rural women across Northern Ireland to host an evening on succession planning

Brought up on a family beef and sheep farm in Cumbria, and now living on a dairy farm in Scotland, Heather has over 30 years’ experience of working in the agri-sector and is well respected for her work around succession within farm families.

Establishing a plan for farm succession will ensure the most effective and efficient transfer of responsibilities and assets to the next generation. This discussion should involve everyone within the family who may be affected and respects the roles they may play now and in the future. A strong succession plan will help protect the farm business and farming family.

Succession is often a difficult topic of conversation for farmers and can be the cause of significant stress and worry, but we need to address the elephant in the room and the woman of the household can often be seen as the driving force behind this conversation.

Doreen Bolton, Health & Wellbeing Locality Lead, Northern Trust commented: “Many farmers and farm families get caught up in the busyness of life that they do not think about planning for the future. Good succession planning is vital for farming families and provides structure to your estate in the most efficient way possible and makes provision for your loved ones in the future. This evening with Heather will be a relaxed fun evening which will remind us of the importance of planning ahead.”

A participant who previously attended a Heather Wildman succession talk said: “Heather really made me think about the future and what it looks like for not only my farm business but also my family and myself. She made me realise that these discussions need to happen now and the importance of having everyone around the table. She explained things in a simple and effective way that really hit home with me and the importance of having a Will and Power of Attorney in place now. An excellent speaker, I would highly recommend.”

This event has been organised by the Northern Health Trust, Rural Support, Compassionate Communities NI and Ulster Farmers’ Union, and will take place on Tuesday, April 16 at 7pm at Glarryford Farmers’ Hall, Co Antrim. This is a subsidised event at £5 per person to include dinner.

To book your place please visit https://www.ufuni.org/event/an-evening-with-heather-wilderman/ or call UFU HQ on 02890 370 222.

n If you would like support with the succession plan for your family farm or would like help in initiating those conversations, please call Rural Support on their free confidential Support Line on 0800 138 1678, open Monday – Friday, 9am – 9pm.