YF&R & FB Members: An event you should not miss!

Okay, so if there was one workshop from the National YF&R Conference in Orlando, Florida this past February that really seemed to strike a note with all the Nevadans who attended, it was the series put on by Dick Wittman.  Let me tell you why the workshops struck a chord with me--My family on my dad's side, has been farming the same land, since the late 1800's.  Because of family issues, some of my great-grandpa's step-sisters were able to sale a large majority of the land out from underneath him, but what remains has been ran by the family ever since.  My dad grew up on it, me and my siblings grew up on it.  My dad's twin has helped him run it, with my grandpa still technically in charge of it, though my dad and our family were the only ones who lived there and worked it full-time.  5 years ago my grandpa suffered an anuerism, followed a few months later by open-heart surgery.  Though he has recovered, this gave my grandma power-of-attorney, and with 8 children to vie for who gets what and when, there has been a lot of pressure on her to divide assets evenly between the eight, though only the oldest two have really ever been involved with the farm.  They now want my dad and uncle to either buy them out, or it will be sold out from under them, even though they have been working it for 30-40 years in their spare time and vacations and holidays, without paychecks, but because they love it.  What is earned from hay or cattle usually goes back into as farmers know, to keep it afloat.  And that is part one of why the Dick Wittman workshops hit me so powerfully.  Dick has dealt with these family situations in so many shapes and forms.  He knows how to help families, generations, relatives, friends so that they can merge, work together, have a productive business, where everyone knows their part, their specific role, and it all works together to last.  The family farm CAN be carried on--siblings, fathers and sons, cousins, etc., CAN work together and together they CAN make it work and be productive.  I could tell you part two, my mom's side, where my grandpa iss till ranching at 83, and my uncle works full-time and farms full-time to keep it going, even though he doesn't shre the same deep love for it that my granpda does.  With each year of age coems the worry ofwhat will happen, will it be sold off, kept in the family, some of each?  I think that at some time this strongly affects all who farm and ranch because it is such a family-oriented business.  So, if you want a more productive farm or ranch or family business, you should NOT miss the state meeting in November.  My husband has taken over managing the property/lease that his parents left to all four kids.  Dick's workshops were invaluable to him in giving him ideas of how to communicate with his siblings and better manage the property with four heads instead of one. So, that is all the rambling I am going to give you for now, I hope you get the point......the Nevada Farm Bureau State Meeting in Fallon, Nevada on November 17-19, with special guest, Dick Wittman, is an event you should not miss!!

HERE'S MORE INFO ABOUT DICK WITTMAN::


R.L. "Dick" Wittman
Dick Wittman manages a large-scale dryland crop, range cattle and timber operation in northern Idaho in partnership with three other family partners. He also provides seminars, workshops, and private consulting services on a part‑time basis to agricultural lenders, agri-businesses and farmer/ranchers.

After receiving a degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Idaho (U of I) and an MBA from the University of Utah, Wittman worked for the Farm Credit System from 1972-1980. His banking career concluded with the Farm Credit Administration in Washington, D. C., where he supervised Farm Credit operations in several Eastern, mid‑West, and Southern U.S. districts.

In 1980 he joined the family farm in Idaho and established a part-time private consulting practice. Wittman has worked with numerous farm clients and professional practitioners, conducted seminars, facilitated strategic planning, taught college classes and developed videotape training modules on a variety of topics throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia. He specializes in financial management and developing management systems and solutions for business relationship/transition problems. In January of 2004, he released a guidebook entitled Building Effective Farm Management Systems. This guidebook provides a toolkit for commercial-size family farm businesses to define their ultimate vision and put in place a professional management and transition process that will lead them to that goal.

Wittman has served on several industry, community and financial institution boards including the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council (5-yrs as president), U of I Ag Consulting Council (chairman 1997-98), Inland Empire Pea Growers Cooperative, Twin River National Bank (1982-89), and Advisory Council (chairman) for the U of I Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Department. He is a founding director and past president of the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association, a regional organization working to further the adoption of no-till practices in the Northwest, and is currently active on several advisory boards developing national policies on Carbon Trading.

He recently completed a term as president of the Farm Financial Standards Council, a core group of farm management and financial experts who have been working for over 25 years to professionalize farm accounting and financial analysis processes. The Council recently released national guidelines to help producers implement Managerial Accounting systems.

Wittman is a contributing editor for Farm Futures magazine, serves on the faculty for the TEPAP Ag Executive Program in Austin, Texas, and appears regularly on the Canadian AgVision television program as part of the Top Manager Team.

Stewardship has been a Wittman Family Farm tradition. The farm was selected as the national Millennium Farm Family in 2000 by the Ag Earth Partnership. Wittman also received the 2002 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Agriculture in Environmental Stewardship. The Wittman Family sponsors an Outdoor Education Camp located on their farm in cooperation with the local Boys and Girls Club. Begun in 1988, this camp gives hundreds of students, teachers and natural resource professionals annually an exposure to key natural resource concepts, and it enables the farm to share its vision on how a farm can be managed, shared, and kept sustainable for future generations.

Wittman and his wife, Dawn, have raised five children and have four grandchildren.

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Background and Management Philosophy

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I am a firm believer in the preservation of the family farm as the preferred entity to manage and steward our food production industry. This belief has been a primary driver in motivating me to help family farmers adopt more professional management practices. Many struggling farmers are quick to blame government interference, low prices, uncooperative lenders, foreign subsidies or greedy and indiscreet neighbors for all their problems. In fact, much of the blame in their failure to achieve full potential rests with their management system and practices. Improved performance, teamwork, and quality of life is easily attainable if one develops a clear vision of how to incorporate improved management practices and invest in the effort to change. “God helps those who help themselves.”

Some perceive that greater focus on professional business principles will erase the spirit of the family farm or turn it into a Ford Motor Company, Cargill, or Archer Daniels Midland. I firmly believe that promoting professional management systems and maintaining a strong family and community focus are complementary strategies, not conflicting targets. Preferring to work together as family should not be an excuse to ignore business principles, but an added reason to follow them. The hurt and long term damage to relationships is often much harder to swallow when family business relationships disintegrate than when ventures between unrelated parties fall to pieces.

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Wittman Consulting Services R.L. "Dick" Wittman 37737 McCormack Ridge Road, Culdesac, ID 83524 PH: (208) 843-5595 C: (208) 305-1344 C: (208) 299-3521 FAX: (208) 843-5095 dwittman@lewiston.com
 
 
Copyright 1993 Wittman Consulting, R. L. “Dick” Wittman, 37737 McCormack Ridge Rd, Culdesac, ID 83524


Work-(208) 843-5595 Fax (208) 843-5095, email: dwittman@lewiston.com, www.wittmanconsulting.com

Managing Business Relationships & Transitions in Multi-Family Farm Operations

Seminar Synopsis

Business practices and relationship problems, not economic issues, are often the reason family operations dissolve business relationships. This tragic conclusion generally stems from operators failing to run the farm like a business, rather than a family venture. Farms with good production and financial footings still fail because they either don’t know the basic rules of conducting a business, or they know the rules, but don’t document them and apply them consistently to daily farm operations.

This seminar presented in combinations of formal lecture plus case study work sessions tackles a number of sensitive issues that relate to managing family businesses. It is presented from the viewpoint of a working family farm manager who has also provided family farm business transition consulting for twenty five years. The seminar combines serious and humorous discussions of basic principles, actual farm problems and practical, successful solutions. The goal of this seminar is to change behavior by convincing participants that: (1) their problems are not unique…nor are the solutions, and (2) implementation of a professional management system is doable and must be given equal priority to energy devoted to production, marketing and financial management. It re-vitalizes teamwork, communication, and creates a positive work environment, and it helps assure family farm survival and effective transition from generation to generation.

Seminar Outline


 Introduction “These family deals never last! …is this opinion destiny or a choice?”


 Defining the puzzle pieces of a ―Management System‖—―What’s more important…process, results or BOTH?”


 Benefits of working together and consequences to family business success from failing to manage toward excellence


 Mission, Vision and Core Values – defining these core guidance statements and using them in a family business


 Planning


 Operational vs. Strategic Planning—what issues should be addressed and why are they important to document?


 Operating issues—production, marketing, financing, personnel, and capital items…systems that work!


 Long Range/Strategic Issues—transfers of management and ownership; expansion; major improvements; enterprise shifts; manpower planning; business structuring… ―Reasons farmers avoid strategic planning”


 ”I know it’s important…just didn’t know where to start!” Strategies for making progress on strategic issues.


 Organization and Division of Responsibility


 “What is my piece of the pie?” Who will make the decisions and implement them?


 Techniques for defining specific roles and dividing responsibility – staff, management, board/owners


 Considerations in bringing new principals into the operation, or retiring others—ownership vs. responsibility


 Using job descriptions as a tool in transition situations


 Company Policies & SOPs - “The Hidden Land Mines”


 Establishing clear policies in areas such as: housing, insurance, compensation, division of earnings, buyout agreements, capital injections and withdrawals, inter-entity transactions, work days/hours/leave policies


 Common sins that violate good business practices—“…on the neighbor’s farm, of course!”


 Strategies and guidelines for developing policy statements


 ―What am I worth per hour to this business?” Understanding the value of ―Hidden (non-cash) Benefits‖ and techniques for structuring ―Compensation Packages‖ for employees, partners or business principals


 Standard Operating Procedures – what are SOPs and where can they be applied in a farm operation?


 Communication, Coordination and Control


 Business tools often ignored or abused—meetings, farm records, and documentation of key business understandings… “Don’t let them know there is money in the bank!”… “We’ll remember what we agreed on!”…


 The ―I can’t be fired!” family business syndrome. Impact of unprofessional communication habits.


 Developing corporate climate of openness and professionalism…”How do mission and core value statements work?”


 “You want to evaluate me?…you must be kidding!” Should family business partners/employees be evaluated? How?


 What performance gauges do you watch? … tractor gauges or your financial gauges? Which one will put you out of business, if you are operating in the red zone?


 Are you ready for Managerial Accounting? What is this and how can I compete with neighbors who know cost of production when I don’t?


 Summary—The Basic Business Management Model Applies to Agriculture, Too!


 The family farm business… a constant transition of inheriting and passing on values…then letting go of the wheel!


 The FARM—Your Children’s ―First Business School‖…Teaching good business principles or bad habits?