According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, family-owned farms account for 95% of all U.S. farming operations. That’s 1.8 million families working together to feed, clothe and fuel our nation. I have yet to meet one of those families who does not want their children and grandchildren to continue their legacy. However, we get so busy with daily activities on the farm it’s easy to neglect our most important asset – our family. As we turn the calendar and begin a new year, consider prioritizing three easy goals for your succession plan to protect your family legacy.
Separate Family & Business Relationships
Getting to work with loved ones can be very rewarding. But family owned and operated businesses face unique challenges. As we navigate our day, each of us are forced to wear many hats (aka roles or relationships.) The need to balance the roles of being Mom, Dad, son, daughter, brother, sister, niece or nephew with those of boss, employee, supervisor, coworker or manager puts immense pressure on each of us. The key is learning to choose which hat to wear in each circumstance. For instance, you may need to set aside your loving parent hat to provide feedback and discipline to an employee who happens to be your son or daughter. Or maybe it’s necessary to separate personal issues you have
with your brother so you can work together effectively in your business roles. This year as you go about your day make a conscience effort to separate family and business relationships.
Find Time for Difficult Conversations
Let’s face it, no one likes dealing with conflict. Whether it’s talking about death or sensitive family issues, those conversations are easy to ignore. To make matters worse, every day you face 1000 demands on your time. We push aside sensitive issues until we have “more time” to deal with them. It’s not intentional, it just
happens. Until one day we look up and realize it may be too late. Important relationships may have careened off course and be irreparable or it could be as simple as failing to tell the kids our wishes for the farm after we are gone. Make 2026 the year you commit to talking about some of those sensitive issues.
Plan Regular Family Meetings
Want your farm legacy to continue after you are gone? Then adopt this one simple strategy – Communicate early and often! Sometimes I ask families what the key to a great marriage is. Most people say it’s communication. Then I ask couples how often they have date night and they reluctantly stare at their feet. We know spending time with our spouse and communicating makes a stronger marriage. But life simply gets in the way with too many things to do. It’s the same for family businesses. If we don’t put family meetings on the calendar and make them a priority they simply will not happen. Make a plan to hold regular family business meetings for everyone involved in the operation and yearly family council meetings for all other family members.
If you’ve continued reading to this point you may be feeling like the title of this article was a “bait and switch.” The three suggestions above feel like the complete opposite of EASY goals. To be honest, you would be correct. They are not easy, but they are essential for your family’s future. No one wants to think about a FOR SALE sign on their farm after they leave this world. But if we can’t separate family and business relationships, find the time to have difficult conversations and prioritize family meetings, unfortunately the likelihood of that happening increases exponentially. Let’s make 2026 the year we spend time doing the hard things to protect our family and our farm’s legacy.
