For many farm and ranch families, creating a succession plan can feel like reaching the finish line of a long and challenging process.

"If you don't drive your business, you will be driven out of business.” This quote is by B. C. Forbes, the founder of Forbes Magazine, and runs doubly true for farms and businesses with more than one key owner or leader.

In agriculture, uncertainty is a constant challenge, from unpredictable weather patterns to fluctuating market conditions. However, these uncertainties should not paralyze decision making or delay essential long-term strategies such as succession planning.

The modern agriculture landscape often calls for a more strategic approach – one that may involve identifying and grooming a non-family successor.

It’s an exciting time when the next generation determines that they are going to pursue a career on the farm.

Leading any business is extremely challenging. If the business is a family business, the level of difficulty is increased, and if you intend for it to be a multigenerational business, the difficulty is even greater still.

Farm succession planning is a critical topic that often gets brushed under the rug due to a variety of emotional and practical reasons. Families and farmowners may avoid discussing succession because of deeply rooted values, fear of mortality and the uncertainty of what lies ahead.

Emotional intelligence has become a significant topic for development and mentoring as well as a key criterion for management and leadership positions.

Don’t be afraid to compensate well and provide annual, merit-based raises or bonus structures into the employee budget. Good employees are hard to come by, and keeping them will be much easier than finding them again.

Many families make the mistake of jumping into succession planning without a plan. They meet with their professionals, have conversations with family and may even get so far as to begin transitioning ownership of assets, but somewhere along the way, momentum gets lost and the plan stalls.