Succession Planning
Define family employment requirements for your operation
In 2022, Top Producer celebrates the 25th anniversary of its annual business and networking event.
As Warren Buffett once said, “The best investment you can make is in yourself.”
Here’s how you can avoid committing these harmony-harming mistakes.
What is the best way to fill current and future labor needs on your farm? Never stop recruiting.
This year, you’ll have a front row seat to watch the Top Producer Awards banquet LIVE!
Every decision Susan Weaver Ford makes is focused on family. She is the sixth generation to hold the reins of her North Carolina farm, and the first female.
During the Top Producer Summit, which was held Feb. 14-16 in Nashville, Top Producer honored five farm operations.
Move your succession plan forward with collaborative experts.
“Nearly every working manager is more competent and comfortable doing tasks,” says Bob Milligan with Dairy Strategies. “That makes it easy to avoid the people side. It is rational but not effective.”
You are likely making plans for seasonal help. If that team includes children or grandchildren, you might want to consider setting up a custodial Roth Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) for them.
To improve productivity in your operation and reduce stress in your family business, set these helpful ground rules.
If your summer farm help involves your child or grandchild, you can combine that hard work with a financial life lesson.
How can you reward team members for good work, increase employee retention and achieve your operation’s goals? Consider implementing an incentive pay system to reward your farm employees.
Use weekly leadership meetings to set priorities and focus on goals.
You’ve heard the horror stories. The ones about farm families who spend months in court fighting over assets. The result? A destroyed business and fractured family. Why does this situation play out over and over?
“Humbling.” That’s how Todd Malecha describes winning the title of the 2022 Top Producer of the Year award.
Sarah Frey started a simple produce delivery route that has evolved into a fresh fruit and vegetable operation that distributes products nationally.
You wear many hats throughout the year. What happens if you or one of the key decision makers is away from the farm for a few weeks or months? Will everyone know exactly what to do when?
Todd and Louise Malecha have one mission: Keep everyone on the same page. For their operation, that “same page” is a 587-page business plan.
Ensure your farm business attracts and retains employees
Managers tend to focus on two groups: the overachievers and the underachievers. As a result, he says, you neglect the employees who could become high performers — aka the B players.
You’ve done the hard part. You’ve set up a trust and allocated assets. Now, who will oversee it after you’re gone? Choosing a trustee is a major financial and personal decision.
In your will or trust documents, you name a power of appointment. This means you grant power to an individual to name recipients of all or a portion of your money and property in the future.
The first step to winning the war for workers is to keep your star employees happy. Here’s how three farmers retain and attract employees.
Idaho operation builds niche business to complement core crops.
How do you approach transition planning when two of your children are on the farm and one is not? You must be intentional and communicate.
If you weren’t able to attend Top Producer Summit in Nashville, you can still watch the awards banquet.
During the Top Producer Summit, which was held Jan. 23-25 in Nashville, Top Producer honored five farm operations.