Tools for Transition - A Communication Workshop for Farmers and Ranchers
Author: Nancy Marks, MT43 News reporter
Tools for Transition - A Communication Workshop for Farmers and Ranchers
Nancy Marks
MT43 News Reporter
Farmers and Ranchers from Crow Creek Valley, Winston and East of Canyon Ferry Lake listened intently Saturday at the Fairgrounds to Elaine Froese explain the easy ways and the hard ways to plan for the family to inherit the ranch or farm.
Froese walked a group of around 45 young couples, their parents and others through the difficulties of transitioning land from one generation to the other. By her own admission, the workshop was not about earned income credit or deferred depreciation. Her emphasis is about teaching the young farmers and their parents how to communicate with each other in a way that will be satisfying to both generations.
The farm family transition expert emphasized first the absolute need for a certified financial planner, a good, but not necessarily your folks’ accountant and an estate lawyer. “My role is to help people get on the right track with expert help.” She explained.
Family farm and ranch transition must meet the needs of both the younger generation who desire to take over the place, as well as the needs of their folks who worked for years to build a good operation. Older folks who want to “step back without stepping away” need to know how and if they can have a good life with a safety net of income. Younger folks want to move up from being "the help” to becoming managers and owners. Clarity works for both if everyone can sit at the table, be heard in their needs and expectations, and calmly work out solutions together.
Nate Cox attended the seminar along with his folks Missy and Cliff. The younger Cox said he hoped the county farm and ranch families would make use of the opportunity to learn about Froese’s services. “I think many of our fellow ag people don’t even know this kind of help is available. She makes it really easy to reach out to her through her blog, her webpage and her seminars. That way these ranch transitions don’t need to be giant, scary conversations for anyone,” he commented.
Froese, often called the “Dr. Phil” for farmers and ranchers, stressed the importance of three steps: clarity, commitment and action. Those steps encompass everyone in the family stressing their needs and wants, then stepping up to commit to a change. The final step, and most important one, she said, is setting up a timetable to accomplish those actions.
Many farm and ranch families travel the hard way: when one generation brings up transitioning the ranch, the older generation walks away, gets mad or talks but doesn’t include everyone involved in the takeover. Froese explained this is a strategy of violence that accomplishes nothing but hard feelings – sometimes for the remainder of people’s lives. This might be easily solved by bringing in an outside professional to mediate to bring harmony and understanding to the negotiations.
Froese introduced several tools for beginning the process of transitioning whether families chose to transition as a family, or to make room for members to leave the operation to pursue some other vocation. For more information, please go to elaine@elainefroese.com or she can be reached at 1(204) 534-7466.
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PhotoCredit: Nancy Marks, Photographer
Image 1 Caption: Workshop Presenter Elaine Froese and her husband Wes.
Nancy Marks, Photographer
Image 2 Caption: District Conservation Coordinator Denise Donnelly introduces workshop leader Elaine Froese at the Fairgrounds workshop on Saturday.
Nancy Marks, Photographer
