The Silver Tsunami Has Ripple Effects

When business owners can’t find successors, it’s not just a problem for the owners. “It is one of the critical issues of our time.”

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:

• Lou Mosca has a special offer for the regulars on the 21 Hats Podcast.

• Harry Elston asks whether business owners really want to share proprietary data with ChatGPT.

• Silicon Valley thinks it can convince Donald Trump to issue more visas to highly skilled immigrants.

• Can restaurants ban diners who are under 30?

SUCCESSION

The fate of a New Hampshire maple farm isn’t an issue just for the aging owners: “Tim Meeh is still farming the same land where he was born, near the crest of a hill blanketed with a sugar maple forest. For 50 years, Meeh and his wife, Jill McCullough, have coaxed maple trees to grow in the acidic soil, building North Family Farm into a business that has sustained their family. Now 72, Meeh and McCullough won’t be able to farm forever, and the farm’s future is yet to be determined. Like many aging farmers in the region, the couple is facing the thorny problem of how to hand off their life’s work — a complicated task involving money, family, and a deep connection to the land.”

• “Farmers around New England are facing this precarious situation in the top region for maple syrup production in the country. The transition to the next generation will determine how much of the region’s agricultural roots — and identity — remains intact. Maple farming is part of a multimillion-dollar industry in New Hampshire but many farms are on the brink of disappearing.”

• “As of 2022, more than 40 percent of New Hampshire farmers are over 65 years old, while only 7 percent are under 35, according to the latest Census of Agriculture by the US Department of Agriculture. And some small farms are struggling to stay in business. ‘There’s no easy answer, and it won’t come immediately,’ said McCullough. She raised her two sons, now 38 and 40, on North Family Farm. Although both help out, she and Meeh said neither has volunteered to take over the business.”

• “Seth Wilner, an agricultural business management specialist at the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, said there has been a strong increase over the past 10 to 15 years of aging New Hampshire farmers looking to retire. At stake in these transitions is more than the fate of an individual farm, Wilner said. If farms go out of business, related sectors are also weakened, such as big-animal veterinarians and tractor dealerships. That, in turn, makes farming even more challenging for those who remain in business. ‘It is one of the critical issues of our time,’ he said.” READ MORE