News

Farm transition sometimes needs help

A farm advisor says some families don’t begin the farm transition process correctly or early enough. 

Kevin Plante with the Wisconsin Farm Center tells Brownfield when families don’t properly lay out a plan, it often leads to conflicts and stress among family members. “The family members that are all up at odds with each other, nobody wants to talk to each other anymore, they are just not communicating so that’s where the mediation comes in.”

And Plante says that’s where they can help. “We come in as coaches to help people identify what are their goals, what are their thoughts, what are their concerns, and help them develop and generate a plan of action.”

Plante says the older and younger generations usually do things differently, including how they communicate. “The multigenerational aspect does play a significant role in just getting people to listen to each other and recognize and to get them to communicate on the different issues and ideas.”

Plante says the Wisconsin Farm Center has a free USDA-certified program under the farm bill for mediation and dispute resolution that’s been helping farm families for nearly 40 years.

AUDIO: Kevin Plante discusses mediation and dispute resolution for farm families with Brownfield’s Larry Lee during the recent WPS Farm Show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.