Other Considerations
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This section discusses items that do not tidily fit into the main structure but are important enough to be given a voice of their own.
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Table of Contents
Exit Strategy
Every business must have an exit strategy.
There are a number of ways to manage your future and use the accumulated value to fund your retirement.
- Sell the farm
- Lease the farm
- Share farming
- Orderly Succession
- Leave it to the kids to sort out
You may wish to remain on the farm or move to town closer to services and amenities.
Succession Planning
Most agricultural businesses are family based, or at least the owner / operator would like to believe so.
Handing over of control to the next generation is not an easy task – there is always doubt – knowledge level, experience level, interest, differing ways – all create questions and friction.
Succession should not be by default – wait until death then “throw em in the deep end” to see if they can swim. That is a guaranteed recipe for failure.
Another thing to consider is that the eldest son may not be either interested nor the best choice. Oft times, another sibling (even a daughter) may be a better choice. Maybe the best choice may be a grandchild, niece or nephew. Which has the interest and the ability to learn the business?
Another thing to consider is inheritance – if there are multiple children it is not always clever to divide the property among them. This may force the sale of the property to provide funds for distribution.
Correctly done, succession is an open and gradual staged process. It can work well for all parties.
Reasoning Processes
Successful primary producers are constantly thinking about their business. They have puzzles presented to them from all directions – this is what makes living and working on the land unique.
Consider the old adage “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one“. On the land you cannot just be a jack of all trades, you must master many – far more than someone in another type of business. Success comes from knowledge and understanding – Never stop learning.
Here are some techniques that will assist you to solve seemingly impossible puzzles.
- First Principles Reasoning
- Second Order Thinking
- When you have eliminated the imposible
- Root cause analysis
- Knowing what I now know
Prior to devoting my time to Properly Organic and Designer Acres, I served as a contracted super tech in the bleeding edge of satellite imagery, business management and accounting software, then telecommunication software bringing SMS and Mobile Application Protocol into Australia. I then decided to return to the land. I quickly discovered that apart the shape of the bales and the colour of the tractors little had changed.
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