A new, on-demand video training series to help farmers with succession planning has been launched by Loft32.
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Farmers’ Bridge is designed to help farms with the transition between generations, “more efficiently and professionally, with a people-centric approach,” the program creator said in a news release.
“Succession is the greatest labour, leadership and ownership challenge rural Canada has ever faced. We built Farmers’ Bridge, so the process is easier and less painful for everyone involved,” Maggie Van Camp, Loft32’s director of Strategic Change, seventh-generation farmer and founder of Farmers’ Bridge, said in the release.
“If done well, this massive generational shift is an opportunity for the future of Canadian agriculture.”
According to the release, over 40 per cent of Canadian farms will change hands before 2033 and two-thirds of farms do not have plans on how to make this happen.
Farmers’ Bridge was built to provide Canadian farmers what they need to navigate this change as efficiently as possible and for their future success, the company said. At its core, transition planning requires communication and decision-making skills, farm-smart resources and people, and motivation to get the planning done.
“Change is difficult for everyone, and farm transition is particularly loaded with emotion, history and expectations,” says Van Camp. “A people-first approach helps make change easier and more effective.”
Farmers’ Bridge uses on-line training, assessments, and connections so farmers have clarity about what they need, and people they can trust to help them with the process.
Currently, two courses are available on the learning platform, with plans for more. Transition Foundations is a series of three to five minute videos of experts clearly answering common succession questions such as “What is Canada’s farm rollover rule” and “What’s the difference between conflict and fighting.”
Another course is Transition Communication, giving farm families practical tools on how to make decisions together, understand conflict and create clarity with aligned goals.
“By establishing practical, effective ways to communicate and a basic knowledge, you are creating a bridge to your farm and your family’s future,” says Van Camp.
Farmers’ Bridge also helps with sourcing professional advisors, based on individual and farm needs. Whether it’s conflict mediation, counselling, transition planning, financial planning, coaching, tax or legal advice, Farmers’ Bridge has a network of nation-wide, farm experienced experts who can help.
Additionally, Farmers’ Bridge worked with Loft32 to create a team of succession-passionate speakers for events. Farmers’ Bridge has speakers to inspire, inform and motivate farm transition planning on request can put together proposals for keynote speakers, panel moderators, and workshop leaders.
To celebrate the launch of Farmers’ Bridge, farmers are invited to attend a free webinar called Farmers’ Bridge: Shift from Family to Business Conversations.
When: March 19 at 12 p.m. EDT
Register: To register, email [email protected] to guarantee your space. You will be sent the password to join the webinar.
What to expect: In what Farmers’ Bridge says is a “fun and intense” 20 minutes, coach and transition facilitator Patti Durand and Farmers’ Bridge founder, Maggie Van Camp, discuss common ways they’ve seen people derail their family businesses with their words. More importantly, they share habits of highly effective family business communications that farmers can start using immediately.
Source: Farmtario.com