Evasion of Possible Rural Successors: Parents and Son’s Perspective

One of the problems experienced in the rural context is aging without successors, and there is a dropout of young people in this environment and there are few people to continue the activities performed by parents. The exodus of sons, the decrease in the percentage of the active rural population, and the loss of the succession dynamics of the productive units, can be compromising in the medium and long term to promote the development and rural companies’ sustainability. In this context, this research aimed to analyze what were the factors that contributed to the successors not staying in the countryside from the perspective of parents and sons. It has the subjectivist approach, with multicase study method, and content analysis to assist in the results interpretation. Among the main findings, there was a predominance of short and medium-term vision, conflicting expectations between parents and sons, and planning failures for continuity of rural family property. It is concluded that investing in structured processes of preparing properties and families for succession means contributing to the sustainability of rural companies and to the relational health of parents and sons.