Business structures - Articles - Page 4

Retirement tax strategy: Establish a charitable remainder trust

May 26, 2022

Most farmers do a great job of managing their taxable income. They buy inputs or machinery to offset the current year’s income and defer income into next year. This strategy works well, but it catches up to the retiring farmer.

Succession planning: Who to include in the discussion

February 28, 2022

Rena Striegel

When families begin to talk about succession planning, the question often arises as to when and/or if it is appropriate to include in-laws in the discussion.

Business planning: The road map to your dairy operation’s future

February 7, 2022

Kylie Lusk

If you are looking for ways to improve your bottom line and develop a road map for your future, creating a business plan may be the right move for you. Business planning is essential for all successful businesses, including dairy operations.

5 ways business plans provide certainty in times of change

December 31, 2021

Karen Lee

As Heather Watson introduced the theme of the 2021 Agricultural Excellence Conference – the Challenge of Change – she said there is an underutilized tool that can help farmers weather difficult times.

Make non-family partnerships thrive on your dairy operation

December 31, 2021

Emily Barge

Working with family can be challenging. Building relationships with non-family partners can often feel even more daunting. How do you know you have similar goals and vested interests?

Three steps to overcome family dysfunction

September 29, 2021

Rena Striegel

Succession planning is often delayed or derailed due to dysfunction or disharmony in the family. When a group struggles to work effectively together, there are three options:

Five steps for successful business planning

July 9, 2021

Rena Striegel

Succession planning, by nature, can be complex. As with any activity that has an element of complexity, the more clarity there is, the easier it will be to keep things moving forward.

Creating structure in the family business

November 25, 2020

Don Tyler

A business cannot achieve its full potential without establishing a level of structure that provides clarity for each person’s areas of responsibility, standard procedures for tasks, levels and limits of authority for each family member and employee, and an agreement on how people will be held accountable.

Get good before you get big

January 6, 2020

Ben Eborn

Starting and growing a business is part of the American dream. Farm and ranch business expansion is often motivated by the need to increase profitability and improve production efficiency. Businesses experience growing pains just as teenagers do. Growth tends to magnify the weaknesses in a business. Setting things in order when your business is small is much wiser than waiting until you have a big business and a mess to clean up. Here are four things you can do to improve the profitability of your business as it grows.