To help families with the succession planning process and initiate communication, Wesley Tucker and an MU Extension team are scheduled to lead several two-hour succession planning workshops across the state this summer, including Concordia in the KMMO listening area. The workshops are scheduled to take place in-person from July 25 through August 8, and online on August 10. The Missouri Department of Agriculture and FCS Financial provided funding for the workshops.
“You will make some mistakes,” Tucher says. “There is no perfect plan to transition a family farm business to its heirs when you want the farm business to continue running, which is the goal of succession. While it might sound foreign, the more we can separate ourselves from the family roles and treat it like a business, the greater our chances of actually making this work.”
Tucker says the U.S. Small Business Administration has found that businesses are more at risk of failure when transitioning to family instead of nonfamily members.
“Keeping the family in the farm and the farm in the family is the goal of nearly every Missouri producer,” says Chris Chinn, director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. “In order to do that, producers must be intentional and focused to prepare a succession plan that takes all parties and priorities into consideration. Navigating this process can be very daunting. This workshop will help answer questions while providing a roadmap for preparing a plan that works for your operation.”
Tucker says the MU Extension “Preparing for Farm Succession Planning” workshop series will show farmers the path from where their businesses are today to where they want their businesses to be in the future when they’re gone. At each step in the process, the successor gains experience in management and has greater responsibility to make decisions.
“Whatever you do, don’t leave it for your kids to ‘work out’ after you are gone,” Tucker says.
The workshops are scheduled to take place in several places around Missouri:
-From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on July 25 in Bolivar.
-From 6 to 8 p.m. on July 26 in Owensville.
-From 9 to 11 a.m. on July 28 in Concordia.
-From 9 to 11 a.m. on July 29 in Savannah.
-From 6 to 8 p.m. on August 2 in Mountain Grove.
-From noon to 2 p.m. on August 8 in Macon.
A workshop is also available online from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on August 10.
To register, visit muext.us/ABPevents.