Succession planning pitfalls

Baker, a respected business consultant and author, will offer farmers advice on how to achieve financial success.  However, her particular interest is the major issue of succession planning. She comes from a farming family and knows first-hand the intricacies of succession. 

Her presentation will focus on the ‘soft’ side of successions. She says it can be quite easy to organise all the money and the legalities surrounding successions, “It’s actually very difficult for people to face up to the need to plan for succession and to think about what they want and to have the conversations with all the people they need to have them with to make it happen.”  

Baker acknowledges that the most difficult decisions concern the emotions involved: “What’s hard is for people to do the thinking and the talking that’s actually required to get them to the point of having a succession plan.”

Baker says there is often an identity issue for farmers as they start a new life after handing over the reins on-farm.  “Usually somebody who farms identifies themselves as a farmer; men in particular tend to have a very strong identity with their work and often they have huge issues about who they will be once they no longer farm. Often they don’t do anything about creating a new life for themselves and it’s terribly hard for them to let go of their farming identity.”

 Baker hopes her presentation will encourage farmers to begin conversations about succession with their families and relevant parties. She says commonly farmers leave it too late. “They don’t talk within the family about what they want and what the various children want; they’re worried about treating their children unequally and they solve the problem by doing nothing a lot of the time.” 

Baker wants to help farmers initiate the thinking and the talking that’s a necessary prerequisite for getting a successful succession.  “I would define a successful succession as the farming couple getting what they want.” She believes the cost of not addressing the issue of succession is “very, very high and that’s a terrible result for a lifetime of hard work.” 

Other topics covered at some of the regional events include new research into once-a-day milking, the Forage Value Index – the new rating system for pasture grasses, pasture persistence, the benefits of mixed pastures and strategies to reduce nitrogen leaching.

Farmers can view the DairyNZ Farmers’ Forum conference programmes for each region and register online at www.dairynz.co.nz/farmersforum.  

Registration is free to levy-paying farmers and their staff; there is a $50 charge for all others.  Each event runs from 9.30am-2pm.  Lunch is provided.