The 25 year succession plan

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By Dwain Duxson dwaind@farmtender.com.au

The 25 year succession plan - I was listening to a Profitable Farmer podcast the other day, and the guest was Ag Consultancy legend, Mike Stephens. Through his consultancy business, Mike has learned the art of facilitating complex Farm succession issues. We bang on about succession a bit because we see it as an important subject in the Ag space.

Mike was talking about how the process of planning is the secret ingredient to getting succession right. There was an example of two siblings who both just completed a succession with their parents and were just making their way in Agriculture by working to grow the Farm business together.

But this wasn't a growth for growth sake scenario. Yes, they planned to grow, but they knew that in 25 years, they would go their own separate ways. So their whole decision-making process for the business was built around this exit. And for the 25 years until this event, they would work on this together with a common goal in mind. Mike also mentioned that if you have a non Farming sibling, the best way to deal with it is to offer to pay them out early. 

He mentioned a comparison was another set of siblings who worked together for 20 years with no succession plan in mind, and when it came time to do something, it all blew up and didn't end pretty. 

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