Transferring assets between generations is a one-time event and it is relatively easy.  However, transferring decisions between generations is a multi-year, gradual process; it rarely is easy and is often catastrophic!
Conventional farm succession planning is concerned with the transfer of farm assets.  Normally, farm accountants and lawyers perform tax plans, shareholder structures, and legal wills.  We at Agriculture Strategy do not do this type of consulting work and work with whoever the farmer trusts to do this. 

Farm succession is more than just the transfer of assets between generations.  It’s the transfer of business knowledge, acumen, and operational skills.  It’s the gradual transfer of responsibility between generations and the planning to ensure that the next generation is equipped with the ability be better managers and strategic businessmen than the previous generation.  Farm succession begins the day that the son returns home.

Intergenerational “mind games” played between father, son, and siblings often results in irrational decision making and missed strategic opportunities.  Sometimes the father is reluctant to transfer decision making to the next generation, which causes serious business issues.  Sometimes the father transfers decision making too quickly to a generation that is not equipped with the skills, acumen, or work ethic required to succeed.  These “soft issues” of farm succession are the most significant business issues but, until this point, have never been dealt with or even addressed.

Agriculture Strategy deals in solving the soft issues which become hard problems in family farms.  Using our unique executive coaching process we solve the underlying issues of farm succession without even bringing up the subject.  Think about these three key concepts:

1. By getting everyone in the family working from the same strategic plan, issues of transparency, uncertainty, and miscommunication disappear.  The strategic plan will change over time as life circumstances change; but by having a transparent plan to refine through family discussion can be constructive and productive.  
2. Implementing a process of continuous improvement will ensure that both the business and family proactively improve on a bi-monthly basis.  By having a bi-monthly time and place to discuss both family and business issues, both the family and the business will be happier places to dwell.  Change is inevitable.  Proactively addressing difficult family discussions with a facilitator on hand will ensure productive not destructive family and business changes occur.   
3. We encourage families to delegate low level decisions to children and involve international experts to constructively critique decision processes/acumen.  Gradually over time, we encourage decision responsibility to be transferred between generations when deserved, thus integrating the parents as trusted advisors.  Most of our farm clients have multi-million dollar operations, yet their fathers don’t realize that the biggest inheritance that their sons could gain is the business acumen between the father’s ears.  Having facilitated family business meetings concerning key business decisions will enable the children to learn invaluable business acumen from their parents and also evolve the kids to be better decision makers by integrating decision tools into the family business culture.  Inheriting a profitable farm is nice, but what matters is that the children inherit the family’s business acumen and, in due time, are given rein to be able to sustainably grow the farm into a dynasty.