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Farm business

When considering changes, farmers can think about new opportunities by using their financial statements to calculate a few ratios.
Guide Business, Succession strategy

How your farm’s numbers can help guide your dreams

Before jumping into transition planning, gather this information and have a conversation with your spouse

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Many years ago, I worked under the late Andy Sirski at Grainews. He taught me to explain out loud how something worked before I wrote about it, how to write an interesting headline, and the difference between wondering and thinking. “Wondering doesn’t get you anywhere,” he used to say. Invariably these tools helped me focus […] Read more
“Getting it equal is almost not doable,” says Larry Smith. “You have to try to find a value that people can agree on and go from there.”
Guide Business, Succession strategy

The Succession Advantage – Finding fairness during farm transition

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Our Succession Advantage series continues by examining advantages you can achieve during the transition process of succession planning. To date, we have covered the benefits of establishing proper communication for maintaining family harmony, clarifying the financial expectations to develop a sustainable plan, and dedicating time to strategic business planning. For the December issue of Country […] Read more
“It has allowed me to grow into a partner with him,” Harley says of his father Kurt’s approach to teamwork.
Guide Business, Management, Poultry/Eggs

Meet the team

In today’s agriculture, succession means most family farms must grow. For the Siemens family, it also means adopting new ways of doing business. Success is all about building on the existing foundation, and creating a new one

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Reading Time: 14 minutes When Kurt Siemens and his son Harley were planning an expansion of the family’s egg farm, they would scratch out designs on paper, then climb the feed tank in the yard so they could visualize the layout on the ground from a bird’s-eye view.  “We would take marker paint and draw the building out on […] Read more
With husband Steve and four sons, Karen Sanders is clear: “First and foremost, we are a family. Secondly, a business family.”
Guide Business, Succession strategy

The Succession Advantage – Balancing growth and harvest

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Following along with our series, The Succession Advantage, we have covered the first two critical stages for family farm transition planning. The Communication Advantage comes from respectful conversation and results in aligned vision and agreed upon goals for the farm’s future. Financial Advantages become more tangible when starting succession planning early and include tax savings, […] Read more
It’s important that you and your spouse discuss the future of your farm, including how, and when, to bring your children into the conversation.
Guide Business, Succession strategy

Taking stock before your farm succession

Before jumping into transition planning, gather this information and have a conversation with your spouse

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Reading Time: 5 minutes Transition planning requires complicated professional tax and legal planning plus deep communication and strategic decision-making. It’s definitely not a do-it-yourself (DIY) project. However, there are some things you can do yourself ahead of transition planning to make it go more smoothly. They will save you time, money and headaches in the future.  Many of us […] Read more
Gaining clarity on what values align and on what “vision for success” means is critical when entering the financial side of transition.
Guide Business, Succession strategy

The Succession Advantage — Balancing the farm’s financials

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Welcome back to our series, The Succession Advantage. Last time we examined the importance of using the correct tools to improve your family’s communication — a critical step to position your farm for continuity. This article addresses a stickier side — the financial aspects of succession. There’s the difference between what the farm is worth […] Read more
A novel approach to estate planning
Guide Life

A novel approach to estate planning

Guide Books Review: To your accountant, the target is to cut estate taxes. Your goal, though, can be to make your prosperity last for generations

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Reading Time: 3 minutes The Naked Opus: Growing Your Family Wealth for the Long TermBy Chris Delaney This is a great read, tackling one of the most difficult topics every farm must face. How can a family build a future that lasts for generations instead of frittering away what it has worked so hard to achieve? So let’s start […] Read more
Shane and Donna Mowat with their four children — Bobby (left), Bailey, Brittany and Bethany — at Bailey’s wedding last fall. All are looking forward to their futures in JockValley Farms, which means all need to participate in constructive communication about how to make it happen.
Guide Business, Succession strategy

The Succession Advantage – Finding your family’s advantage point

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Succession is more than passing the farm to the next generation. It’s about setting the farm up for ongoing success through a continual discovery process, examining every aspect of the farm and its operations, pulling out the very best, and incorporating them into best practices. It’s about having conversations with your family that get to […] Read more
“It’s Mom’s and Dad’s land,” says financial planner Colin Sabourin. “They should focus on themselves first, and on what they need.”
Guide Business, Succession strategy

Keep the farm or sell?

Mom and Dad want to retire. What’s the smart move? Should you keep the land for the family, or sell and invest?

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Reading Time: 4 minutes As farming parents prepare to retire, conflicting viewpoints can arise with their offspring over keeping the land or selling it. What’s the right way to go? Deciding whether to retain versus divesting the family farm may be the biggest decision that any farm family will ever have to undertake. There’s no right or wrong answer, […] Read more

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