Farm-Success Newsletter 3

Project Status

The Farm-Success project is entering its final few months, and our online training platform is almost up and running following our recent project meeting hosted by the Association of Private Farming of the Czech Republic (meeting report below).

Now we have just a few final adjustments, tests, and translations to complete before carrying out a range of mainstreaming actions to put our products into use. We'll also be organising a number of multiplier events across Europe in which young farmers will have the opportunity to discuss the future of farming and rural life, as well as the importance of succession processes for the sustainability of family farms, with leading experts and policy-makers. Finally, we'll be holding our final Farm-Success conference in Brussels next April.

In the meantime, here we would like to provide a brief preview of what we have in store for you in each of our training modules. Happy reading!

Module 0: Introduction - Sustainable entrepreneurship in family farm succession processes

Developing a business such as a family farm over several generations is a unique entrepreneurial endeavour, and farmers increasingly face the challenge of balancing the needs of consumers, their own personal convictions, and the stipulations of new regulations and laws. All of these considerations need to be effectively managed for the farm business to be run in an economically and ecologically sustainable way – especially when succession is also a factor!

Therefore, in this module you will learn the basics of business management and business planning. We will then take a look at intergenerational challenges in agriculture, and the necessary steps to ensure that sustainable farming supports rural areas.

Module 1: The succession process – basic facts to think about

Awareness of the issues and challenges involved in the succession process is crucial to all parties involved being prepared to tackle any difficulties before they arise. That’s why this module will draw your attention to the basic facts that need to be kept in mind throughout the succession process.

For example, this module will outline the relatively well-established timeline that succession processes usually follow, demonstrating the specific milestones from the identification of the possible successor to the formal taking over and management of the farm. Additionally, this module will highlight that during all stages of the process the potential successor, predecessor, family members and other stakeholders face a variety of questions and challenges, which may be personal, professional or financial.

Module 2: Personal goals, skills and self-assessment

The most important person you need to understand as a successor going through the process is yourself! This module helps you to define your personal situation, identify your goals, and evaluate your skills so that you’re certain of what you want, and fully aware of how your personal attributes can help you achieve it.

In this module you’ll complete a personal SWOT analysis, learn how to understand your individual circumstances, identify the opportunities and risks involved in taking over a farm, and gain awareness of the role timing plays in the very personal succession process.

Module 3: Intergenerational and intragenerational chances and challenges for agricultural family enterprises

Family farms are businesses, but they’re not the same as any other business – and that’s why farm succession is often such a complex process. Therefore, this module addresses how to understand the particular circumstances of family farms in the world of enterprise.

We then outline the various challenges successors may face, and use a SWOT analysis to give you as comprehensive as possible an overview of all sides of the succession process. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we highlight the need to take a step back and look at your own succession process as objectively and comprehensively as you can.

Module 4: Communication

In this module farmers facing the succession process will learn about the main principles and structures of communication and they will explore the various aspects of sent and received messages. You will be able to familiarise yourself with the four basic styles of communication: passive communication, aggressive communication, passive-aggressive communication, and assertive communication. You will discover how positive phrasing and non-verbal communication affect the communication process and improve comprehensibility as well as the overall atmosphere.

Study texts are focused on the importance of mutual communication in the family farm.

Module 5: Conflict management

Conflicts, although sometimes unfortunate, are a normal part of life! People who live together will always have different ideas, opinions, and perceptions. It is from these differences that conflicts arise. Therefore, it is important to know how they arise, how you can manage them, and how you can solve or even prevent them.

In this module you will learn what conflicts are, how they arise and how to recognise them. Furthermore, you get to know the typical fields of conflict, roles in conflicts and strategies on how to solve or even prevent them.

Module 6: Integrated Business Planning (Farm and Life): Vision – Strategy – Project implementation

This final module aims to bring everything from the previous six modules together by helping you to consolidate your vision and strategy to develop your farm business economically and socially. This includes setting milestones for further development of the enterprise, the transfer of knowledge and responsibilities, as well as learning how to ensure liquidity both during and after the succession process.

This module will help you to set realistic and concrete time schedules, and reflect on the appropriate timing and conditions for succession while taking into account the points of view of all generations involved in the farm.

5th Project Meeting in Prague

The Farm-Success team met in Prague from 14-15 September for our penultimate project meeting - kindly hosted by the Association of Private Farming of the Czech Republic. At the meeting, project partners worked on plans for the final adjustments, tests, and translations of a range of tools to help farmers navigate the process of farm succession, and discussed preparations for the final Farm-Success conference in Brussels in April 2018.

The Farm-Success team also had the opportunity to visit Kunclův mlýn – one of the case-studies demonstrating successful farm succession included in our training platform. Young farmer Petr Kuncl showed us around his award-winning organic beef farm in the central Vltava region of the Czech Republic, as well as his on-site meat-processing facilities and shop. Up to 90% of Kunclův mlýn’s produce is sold directly to the customer at the farmgate.