Common elements to successful family farms

Al Martens

The term family farm means different things to different people. In one context it's mom and dad and a bunch of kids working together on a myriad projects that never seem to get done.

Al Martens

On the other hand, it’s multiple generations working on the same original homestead, full of respect for the parents' and grandparents’ work and foresight that gave the current generation their opportunity.

The really inspirational family farms combine both multiple generations and siblings into a working unit. Certainly, the founding grandparents or great-grandparents should be proud.

I’ve gotten to watch some of these multi-generational farms succeed and some fall apart, and a third group that may have succeeded but was never allowed the opportunity.

The successful farms have a number of common elements. You can list cooperation and communication, hard work and respect for one another as contributing elements.

Farm members need to delegate and trust other team members to do their part without judgment. And there’s usually a lot of parental love in these success stories, and a lot of respect for the parents by the succeeding generation.

So what do I attribute the successes to?

First is giving the kids — the next generation — responsibility when they’re young. If they fail, they’re corrected or punished, but responsibility is important. Get out of bed, these are the chores, these are your animals, get it done. This builds character as the kids grow.

The second is allowing the next generation to fail with decision-making. Just like sports or 4-H projects, failure creates reassessment of why failure occurred, and motivation to try either harder or differently the next time around. Crops fail, animals die and no one is happy. However, farmers persevere and make changes so the next time is different. There is an implicit trust from the parents the kids will make good decisions.

Third, there is a deep-seated belief held by parents that their kids will take over the farm. This belief becomes an understanding that is seldom discussed directly but is implied in conversation and deed. This is a subtle issue, but it exists in most cases.

These first three attributes begin when kids are really young. The fourth and perhaps the hardest part of preparing the next generation is often outside experience.

Sometimes this is intentional, making the kids work off the farm for a few years or sending them to college (or both). Or sometimes there is friction and the kids need to work somewhere else.

In the latter case, it is amazing to talk to the kids, “Dad really has some great ideas, I just never realized it”, and to talk to the parents, “I didn’t realize how much Joe got done in a day, and it was sure nice to get his opinion about a project even if I didn’t agree with it.”  Separation can certainly build understanding.

The planning for successful multi-generational farms doesn’t occur by sitting down in a lawyer’s office building an agreement. The agreement and understanding starts when the kids are accepted as integral parts of the ongoing operation. The lawyer just puts it in legalese. Mom and dad are giving responsibility to the next generation when they do this.

My kids have all grown and gone their own way. They’re great friends, but we don’t have the close relationships that being in business and working as a team day in day out can foster. Granted, close relationships also can create enemies, but I think the risk is worth the reward that I see on the successful farms.

For me it’s been disheartening to watch young people grow up, realize a love of farming only to have their parents stifle their ambitions. I’m not sure if it’s an issue of control or greed, or parents being fearful of their kids failing. In the end, it would have been better if they had tried and failed then to have never tried at all.

Al Martens is a veterinarian with Waupun Veterinary Service in Waupun. Contact him