Local producers are being asked to learn from the past to understand the future, Feb. 16 at the AgChoices 2011 conference in Red Deer.
The one-day event will have two different keynote speakers” futurist Jim Bottemly and Iowa farmer and public speaker Jolene Brown. Provincial Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Jack Hayden will also attend.
“It’s an engaging time. It’s networking and sharing time for producers,” said Charles Young, manager of learning and development with Alberta Agriculture. “It’s a chance to come together and move forward.”
“What did ag look like 30 years ago and what will it look like 30 years from now?” he said. “How can understanding the future help you build a more sustainable farm operation?”
Brown, from West Branch, Iowa, is excited to come to Canada and speak to local growers. The name of her presentation is “The Top Ten Stupid Things Families Do To Break Up Their Business.”
Brown will discuss how to ensure successful farm transition through a frank and honest discussion on farm succession planning. She emphasizes that succession plans need to be based on more than genetics, tradition, assumptions and emotion.
“I think I need to be frank and direct because people need to realize that they need to be a business first family, not a family first business,” said Brown.
She said she has been at hundreds of kitchen tables and has seen everything from tears to fights and ulcers. She said one of the most common mistakes families make is thinking a conversation is a contract.
“I tell people farmers lie,” she said.
“We are driven by habit and emotion and we naturally don’t like conflict. Pigs are easier to deal with than people.”
Brown will provide templates and other paperwork to families to give them the tools they need to implement her advice in a practical way.
She promised her presentation would be fun-filled and entertaining.
“People will be laughing and poking each other because they see the truth in what I am saying,” she said.
“The thing I am accused of most is being a fly on the wall in people’s houses.”
Brown is a grain farmer with her husband on a piece of land about 40 minutes west of the Mississippi River.
“I speak their language,” she said.
“Everyone feels that no one understands them but these are all common concerns.”
Along with speeches and networking, 17 concurrent agricultural information sessions will be held. Themes range from increasing profits-per-acre, local food, green movement, bio-industrial development and producers will choose and attend their top five ranked workshops.
The conference at the Red Deer Lodge Hotel and Conference Centre is partially sponsored by Growing Forward, a provincial initiative ushered through Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.
For more information or to register, visit www.agriculture.alberta.ca/agchoices
