HARROP FAMILY

Harrcroft Acres

Teamwork leads Harrop family succession

Ian and Janet Harrop of Harrcoft Acres in Fergus, ON, are going through the second farm succession of their farming career. The first was a transition of farm ownership from Ian’s father to Ian and his brother as partners in the late 1980s, and the second, the current transition from Ian and Janet to their son, Ryan and his wife Jessie.

Over the years, the Harrops have learned from their experiences working alongside family, managing the farm business and making plans for the future, and are pouring their efforts into making today’s transition successful.

“We’ve changed our management strategy from a top-down, to a bottom-up approach,” says Janet, explaining that in the past, the senior generation made all farm decisions, but today, the junior generation is encouraged to lead discussions and take an active role in farm management and succession planning.

Still in the farm transition phase with no set timeline for the senior generation to retire, the Harrops have established what they describe as a “fluid” succession plan based on realistic farm goals, monthly management meetings and a collective mindset that everyone works together to transfer the family farm legacy to the junior generation over time. “We’re working toward the same goals and we’re all on the same page with our vision for the future,” says Janet. “We know that without an agreed upon direction we understand that we would risk the health of our family relationships and the success of our farm business.”

Janet says that now, as the senior generation, she’s more conscious than ever of maintaining good relationships, resolving conflict, and respecting the personal space of her son and daughter in-law who now live on the family farm. “We’re six years into this transition process and we’re still working on getting it right,” she chuckles.

Throughout the process, Ian and Janet have been transparent about expectations with their non-farming daughter, who has embraced the process. “It’s been important to us to explain the plan as a business case and remove emotions from conversations,” explains Janet, noting how closely everyone is connected to the farm, and how hard it can be to have open conversations about the value of farm assets and future inheritance.

Like most families working through the succession process, the Harrops believe in open communication and prioritizing family relationships. The family has had the opportunity to learn from previous transition experiences that, while challenging, had the best of intentions, and have since embraced a new process that includes open dialogue through monthly farm meetings and annual consultations with farm advisors. Janet and Ian have made it their goal to never use the phrase, “we already tried that”, and to always be open to new ideas.