A greenhouse can help farmers extend their season or create an opportunity for a son or daughter who wants to remain in agriculture. It’s worth exploring when the existing business offers little room for the next generation.
Farming experience provides a valuable foundation, but growing indoors requires different skills. Managing irrigation in a small root zone takes practice, while climate-control equipment brings maintenance demands and energy costs that can change the economics.
I’d want the family to discuss who will run the operation and whether that person wants the responsibility. How will they gain the experience to succeed? A succession plan needs more than someone willing to inherit the structure.
Starting at a manageable scale allows the next generation to build growing expertise and develop customers before committing to an expansion.
If a greenhouse is going to help keep the farm in the family, it needs to provide a living for the person who takes it on.