Family farms are unique. Many children stick around to help. They marry and bring children into the family, adding more people to feed and help. Conflict is really common and it gets worse the more people that work together on the farm.
Here are some more tips to help everyone work together on the family farm.
Have a good business plan that everyone agrees with. It is important that everyone who works on the farm knows where the business is going. Are you going to continue the way that it is or are you going to try to expand it since more people are helping?
Put the business plan into writing. A written business plan is better than one that is just agreed on. For any disagreements, you can go back over to the business plan and see how to handle it.
However, be sure to keep the written business plan current. Things change on a regular basis so it is important to update the business plan after everyone agrees. Sometimes a child will leave to work a different job. Other times, they come back. Someone may decide to take a more active role while someone else might want to be less involved.
Make sure that everyone who is farming wants to do it. There are times when children feel like they have to help on the farm. This pressure can really make them unhappy. Some may go away to try other things, only to come back. However, you can’t force anyone to help around the farm or they will start to resent you and the farm (making you want to sell it).
In order to have a good working family farm, you need to remember that it is a business. Get a written business plan that everyone agrees to and stick to it. Make changes as needed, as people come and go. Some may want to work more while others less so make sure that it is pretty current or you may have trouble in the future.
Contact us for more tips on running the family farm.
