From Country News........

A growing number of farmers around Australia are postponing their retirement plans due to the effects of the global financial crisis.

According to a new survey released late last month by RMIT University and international accounting firm MGI, 31 per cent of family business owners are concerned they don't have enough funds for retirement.

The survey also found 61 per cent of owners would consider selling their operation if they were approached - a figure much lower than the figure of 75 per cent recorded in 2006.

Stanhope dairy farmer Kevin Sutton, 64, said he regularly considered whether he was in a comfortable position to retire.

"It constantly goes through the mind, but if farming was to be where it should be at the moment it would be a lot better, because the water issues are having a bad effect and causing a massive amount of insecurity," he said.

"Dairy farming has been absolutely decimated by the water situation and the results of the deregulation over the last 10 years.

"My wife is a teacher and that helps, but not a lot of other farmers are in that position."

Mr Sutton - who looks after sheep, cropping and beef cattle on his property - said the dairy farming industry was also currently suffering due to a lack of new younger farmers taking up the occupation.

"It's not so much people have put off retirement, but young people are not going into farming, and therefore the industry is slowing down dramatically," he said.

"The price of the products makes them not go into it, and if that's the case then you can't make a lot of a living out of it.

"I know farmers who are 80 and 90 and still farming, and they'd sell if the market was there, but it just isn't at the moment."

Other findings included:

Farmers' concerns about the future financial performance of their company jumped to 54 per cent;

Just under half of owners said they would still be working beyond 65 years of age, with one-third saying they needed the ongoing income or to sell the business to fund retirement; and,

Succession planning is now a major concern for 20 per cent of businesses, a jump from 9 per cent in 2006.