Free succession planning workshops available
Successfully transitioning a family farming business to the next generation doesn’t happen overnight. It takes planning and “communication, communication, communication,” says Wesley Tucker, agricultural business field specialist with University of Missouri Extension.
To help families with the succession planning process and initiate communication, Tucker and an MU Extension team will lead two-hour succession planning workshops across the state this summer. The Missouri Department of Agriculture and FCS Financial provided funding for the workshops.
Tucker says none of us enjoy conflict, so we often avoid those difficult conversations, but it’s important to engage in “intentional communication” in the form of regular family business meetings to discuss issues.
“While it might sound foreign, the more we can separate ourselves from the family roles and treat it like a business, the greater our chances of actually making this work,” he says.
Tucker says the U.S. Small Business Administration has found that businesses are more at risk of failure when transitioning to family instead of nonfamily members.
Unlike estate plans that start into motion after an event — typically, a funeral — succession plans should not depend on an event, says Tucker.
“If they do, then successors who have been involved in their family businesses risk that they won’t be adequately compensated for their efforts — if anything happens to go wrong before that event,” he said.
Succession planning’s focus on handing off business operations also makes it different from estate planning, which involves instructing how to give your land and equipment to your kids.
“That’s easy,” says Tucker, “But if the goal is to keep the farm business together, then you also need a succession plan.”
Tucker says the MU Extension “Preparing for Farm Succession Planning” workshop series will show farmers the path from where their businesses are today to where they want their businesses to be in the future when they’re gone. At each step in the process, the successor gains experience in management and has greater responsibility to make decisions, he says.
During this process, the role of parent transitions from one of chief decision-maker to chief mentor and supporter.
“Whatever you do, don’t leave it for your kids to ‘work out’ after you are gone,” Tucker says.
No in-person classes are planned in the immediate Joplin area. However, an online class is scheduled for 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Wednesday, August 10.
Register at muext.us/ABPevents