The Business of Family Farming

Posted on December 27, 2013

As we sit down to celebrate the holidays with family, I’d be remised if I didn’t write about family farming. As a third generation farmer, I am lucky enough to have two generations before me still active in the farming community. Although my family is small (10+ people) we are in some way connected to farming (some more than others). Often, when planning out farming activities such as haying, I am met with push back about my “new ideas.” This was the case when I suggested we move from square bales to a round bale operation. My grandfather, still adamant today, that squares bales were tried and true and nothing can replace them. My father on the other hand, loves the convenience, ease and simplicity that the round bales can offer. I remember sitting down with my grandfather with my pro’s and con’s list to try to sway his vote. It took several times but finally I was able to convince him that we should at least do a couple round bales to try it out. When I said a couple, he took it literal and we only did a couple round bales of the outside windrows that year. Although many people would think it was a waste of time and effort, to me it was one giant step into “modern farming.” (A side note we still do about 5,000 – 10,000 square bales a year for customers and for our own consumption however, I am happy to report our round bale operation has grown!).

As the saying goes, family and business don’t mix. This does hold true for some industries, some jobs and some businesses, but when it comes to farming they go hand and hand like apple and pie. For someone like myself (I would consider myself a new aged farmer), it can be challenging to implement new ideas and especially technology with the tried and true generation. Through my experience, I have learned there are a couple ideas to help ease the transition.

1. Make a plan – I have found that my most effective case for new technology or equipment is supported by a well thought-out plan. It could be a simple as highlighting the “who, what, where, when and how” of a new item. Or it could be more involved like a more detailed description of a haying schedule with diagrams and statistics. I often like to feature the objective (this comes from my accountant audit background) of each idea and the steps to get there using said idea. Most often you will tend to get more respect and attention if you have shown your intent and that you took the time to careful consider all aspects of the farm.
2. Be patience – they say Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are the family farms. With a variety of opinions and ideas, this holds especially true when dealing with a family and business.
3. Lead by example – often I will show what others are doing by taking a field trip to a nearby farm. This gives a more personable and relatable concept to your idea (and a third party view) to help ease any questions or fears. My family has a good rapport with a local equipment dealer and often they will send equipment down for me to try out for a week to see if it works for my farm and show to the prior two generations.

Lastly, communication is key when dealing with any type of business – or family. Making sure everyone’s ideas and thoughts are heard and coming to group decision within the family is incredible important.  At the end of the day you are still family and that should come first.