By RON WALL, AdFarm
When it comes to families doing their best to break up their farm businesses, Iowa farmer Jolene Brown has probably heard it all.
“As a farmer and professional speaker, I sit at kitchen tables throughout North America and people tell me their stories about owning and working the farm with family members,” says Brown, who will speak at the AgChoices 2011 conference in Red Deer Feb. 16. “Many are filled with anger, fear, disappointment and resentment and I keep hearing the same stories with familiar plots.”
Based on these experiences, Brown compiled a list of what she calls the “The Top Ten Stupid Things Families Do to Break up Their Farm Operation.”
In her presentation, Brown will demonstrate how successful farm succession plans need to be based on more than genetics, tradition, assumptions and emotion.
The conference is sponsored by Growing Forward, a federal-provincial territorial initiative and co-ordinated by Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD). Jack Hayden, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, will share his thoughts on the industry and bring greetings from the province.
Also attending the conference is Jim Bottomley, one of Canada’s foremost futurists. Unlike other futurists who specialize in one trend category, Bottomley examines how technical, social, economic, demographic and trends in human behaviour are combining to provide future opportunity and affect planning for the future of Alberta’s agriculture industry.
AgChoices 2011 also features the Ag- Info Market, a series of short sessions that offer producers the opportunity to gain information on a wide variety of business management projects.
For more information, call the Ag-Info Centre at 1 800-387-6030 or visit www.agriculture.alberta.ca/agchoices