Hollard Insure and Farmingportal.co.za and Agri News Net - Young Agri Writers competition-
Succession-planning is most of the time not one of our finest qualities. In all facets of life, and in business, the easier option is to do exactly what is expected from you without truly impacting the generation that follows. One can easily go through the motions and successfully complete each day's tasks, without positively contributing to any other human being that crosses your path. Successful succession planning is a quality that does not always come naturally, it is a process that occurs over time being cultivated by emotional intelligence and innovative thinking. This way of living allows for an attitude where you prepare the stage for someone else, while you allow yourself to stand on the sideline motivating and cheering them on. It is adopting a very bold attitude where one lives a life with the mindset that everything you do now, will echo in eternity.
Nevertheless, no business or industry can ensure its future without well through succession planning. It involves having a strategy for identifying and developing future leaders at companies - to ensure businesses run smoothly even after important role players move to other positions. It ensures that there are people who can move into key positions when the current occupants leave. Even the most successful employees can move to new opportunities, retire or pass away.
The agriculture industry has both good and bad examples of succession planning. Some businesses within the industry seem to hit the nail on its head, while others are completely failing at the task. However, it is not only in agricultural companies where failure to plan ahead is noted but also on commercial farms where the older generation struggles to make wat for the younger generation on the same farm. Not keeping up with research and improved changes in farming methods and technology, are basically setting one up for failure.
Second Runner up- WELCOME TO THE BOYS’ CLUB- Karen Truter
When I think of succession planning within the agricultural industry. The first thing that comes to mind is knowledge. Not the type of knowledge that we get taught in universities, but practical knowledge that comes with years of in-field experience. Within the older generation, there is a vast amount of valuable information locked up. Neglection, or reluctance, to make time to carry this information over to the future leaders could potentially kill the industry in due time. The second thing that comes to mind is a generation of young candidates entering the agricultural industry. Whether it is agriculturists, economists, engineers or plant pathologists. For that to happen the industry must be made attractive again. It is our duty to make agriculture one of the primary potential careers that come to mind when students consider their possibilities. the duty lies in the hands of the government and the commercial secotr. For this to happen, stigma, uncertainty and negativity should be replaced with the endless possibilities and opportunities that the agricultural industry holds for our future. Moreover, succession planning allows for a generation of leaders being brought up to take forward what was built in the past few decades. I say this with all due respect, but today's young generation are the decision-makers of the future. We should not let the opportunity go by to influence them for the better.
When the abovementioned options, conveyance of knowledge and inclusion of the younger generation, come together. Only then, successful succession planning within agriculture is possible.
Within an industry that is supposed to be the backbone of the economy, I reckon one should do everything in one's ability to ensure a bright future. Therefore, for us, as an agricultural industry to impact hundred years from now, we should invest in generational growth and have a fool proof succession plan. We should invest in people. We should hire for attitude and passion, and develop skills. We should create leaders, by being leaders. We should not allow years of knowledge to go to waste due to pride and failure of knowledge being carried over.
We should aim to raise a generation of passionate people who can successfully replace the older generation, within the agricultural industry, when it is their time to stand back and enjoy life from the sideline.
Karen Truter
I grew up in Potchefstroom and I moved to Stellenbosch to study Soil Science and Agronomy. I completed my undergraduate degree in 2017 whereafter I enrolled in a postgraduate degree within the Agronomy department (which I completed early 2020). I am currently working as an agriculturist at Nitrophoska, a fertilizer company based in the Western Cape. My interests lie in crop nutrition, conservation agriculture, precision farming, and farm machinery. I am truly passionate about agriculture and excited for the future thereof. Even though I spend most of my days on the road between farms, I still enjoy running as often as possible and watching sport. Writing and reading are also hobbies that I enjoy.
