How to Business

For many families, succession planning seems too treacherous a journey to undertake, so they simply opt not to set off on it. As a result, they forgo a critical opportunity to shape their future for the better.

Farming is like running any other business: you need to be realistic and practical in how you go about it. Roelof Bezuidenhout lists some crucial pointers to help you out.

Leading any business is tough. Leading a family business can be considerably more difficult. Family business leaders have to deal with relationships and emotions that simply are not present in an ordinary business set-up. And this is in addition to the normal stresses of running a company. Under these circumstances, establishing or continuing a legacy for generations to come can seem like an impossible dream, says Trevor Dickinson.

‘People-pleasers’ and ‘injustice collectors’ tend to suffer from the same basic problem: a lack of self-esteem. Trevor Dickinson explains these different personality types and how they fit into the larger family business.

A critical juncture in the life of the family agribusiness is the transition from one generation to the next. One of the reasons for this, explains Trevor Dickinson, is that the capacity of the business to pay any form of remuneration has to be balanced with the requirements of the individuals who own and operate it.

Are you going away over the festive season? Three leaders in agriculture and security explain how common sense, technology, and good relationships with neighbours can help protect your possessions.

Parent and child can work together on the farm, love each other, state their needs, be heard and learn to negotiate their differences. It starts with respect and compromise, says Trevor Dickinson.

When business-owning parents leave their children equal shares in the operation, a battle can erupt between those who work for the company and those who don’t. There are better ways to fairly distribute wealth to heirs, writes Trevor Dickinson.

Navigating your way through the numerous rules and regulations of workplace health and safety can seem a daunting prospect, but labour consultants are there to guide you. Jeandré van der Walt spoke to a number of experts in the occupational health and safety industry about the key aspects of farmworker safety.

Very few family farming operations transition effortlessly from one generation to another. The process requires careful planning, hard work and a lot of patience. Annelie Coleman spoke to several experts about the factors that drive success, and found that timeous succession planning, a family constitution, and a willingness to allow new entrants topped the list.

A comprehensive and all-inclusive budget is critical to the success of any production operation, according to Anche Suurd, an agricultural economist at NWK. Without this basic financial tool, it is extremely difficult to obtain a clear idea of the actual performance of the business, or sustainably create and build wealth.

Maximising water-use efficiency in South African undercover crop farming operations has become both a financial and moral imperative. But selecting the most appropriate undercover irrigation technologies can be a challenge in itself. Three local experts shared their advice on this increasingly complex topic with Lloyd Phillips.