In the coming decade, I wager you’re going to be reading more articles with advice on setting up succession plans than ever before, much like the two-part series our colleague Elizabeth Hodges wrote in the last two weeks.

It’s a fact that the Baby Boomer generation is at or nearing retirement. And the farms they inherited — or started — in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s are much more complex than ever before.

The succession plan of the Greatest Generation — a will laying out the eldest son gets which acres, and maybe a nod to the other children with the expectation that everyone plays nicely — is not enough to protect the farm enterprises of today. In fact, that’s a surefire way to see generational wealth of land and legacy sold to the highest bidder on a cloudy Saturday morning.

At the same time, expecting the next generation to come on board without a plan in place for how they’ll participate in the farm beyond “elevated hired hand status” is a recipe for disaster.

If this sounds harsh, well, friends, I’m sorry. But I’m going to hold your hand and space in my heart for you when I tell you this. If you want the next generation to take on the farm, then you need to give them a reason to come home. It should be a plan, not an obligation.

Sure, a lot of people would love to carry on the farming legacy of their families, but it’s not always financially responsible to do that. You’re asking that next generation to give up, potentially, 40 years or thereabouts of higher wages, employer-sponsored insurance, profit-sharing and retirement investments. You’re asking their spouse and family to move to a rural environment with smaller schools, shaky health care and fewer job opportunities, all in the name of family duty.

Related:Set the table for a smooth transition

Yes, living in rural Kansas has its own benefits, but it’s got so many more challenges to it as well. You and I know this. We wait to see doctors because there’s fewer providers out here, or we travel hours to Wichita or Kansas City to see specialists. If there’s off-farm professional employment for the spouse of your next-generation farmer, there’s often not available child care.

And let’s face it, that next generation needs that dual income just to service the student loans they took out to get the secondary education that would qualify them for that job — not to mention that college was where your next-generation farmer met their spouse and fell in love.

Family living expenses are so much higher today than they were when you were starting out. Ask yourselves, is the farm that you’re trying to pass on large enough to fold in another household — or two or three if you’ve got more than one next-generation farmer to bring on board? Should you ask that young family to sacrifice as much as you did when you were starting out?

Related:What should the next generation bring to a succession plan?

Also, take the time to ask this of yourselves: Are you, the older generation, ready to give up some authority to that next generation to make changes to the operation you’ve built? Can you work through your communication hurdles to step into the mentor role after years of being the final say on the operation? Can you give them autonomy and buy-in to the farm?

See, friends, when we write “communication is key in succession planning,” it’s because we don’t have the space to write, “talk about the things you don’t normally talk about in polite company or that make you feel uncomfortable.” But let me assure you, if you don’t say the unsaid, if you don’t lay out plans and details for how that next generation will assume control and you’ll step away, it will end in heartache — for you and for them.

By the way, “communication” is often code for giving them the dignity of making decisions as a contributing adult on the farm and not as a child.

I warned you that this might sound harsh. But I write this, too, with the sincere hope that if it helps just one family start their planning from a place of reality, it will be worth it.

I want you to succeed, so take the time and the money to hire professionals to help you set up a succession plan that gives the next generation incentives to give up town life and come back to the farm.