Wyoming Department of Agriculture provides mediation and succession planning support

The Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA) provides mediation services to resolve disputes confidentially, efficiently and at a low cost for agriculturalists across the state. Trained mediators help conflicting parties explore options and develop solutions everyone agrees on. 

Mediators work as facilitators, not as judges, and therefore do not decide if one party is in the right or the wrong. They help involved parties control the result of the mediation and whatever agreement they come to. 

Mediation is a tool used to help agricultural producers with a wide variety of issues, including neighbor-to-neighbor conflicts, farm and ranch transition discussions, lease issues, grazing permit issues, ag business disputes and much more.

WDA Mediation and Farm Succession Coordinator Lucy Pauley presented on how the department can help ease the tension of succession planning at the Johnson County Cattlewomen’s Women’s Ag Summit held in Buffalo on Jan. 11.

Succession planning challenges

“When we look at what succession planning means, we’re talking about the transfer of management from one generation to another,” explained Pauley. “Sometimes we’re talking about the transfer of management from somebody within the family to somebody outside of the family. There are folks in Wyoming who might not have any heirs or other family members interested in continuing the ranch, so they have to take a different approach at how to keep their operation going.”

Pauley identified some of the major barriers people face when succession planning.

She noted finances tend to be at the top of the list, but through WDA’s mediation program, ranchers have access to financial counselors to help navigate the process. 

The second barrier identified is communication. 

Pauley recognized succession planning can often be stressful, which can prevent people from communicating to their best ability. 

“What I do as a mediator is get people to talk and share ideas, which adds an additional component to the planning process,” she said. “There’s something about sitting down with a neutral third person who doesn’t know anybody and isn’t invested in the situation. It just helps people talk.”

Workbook available

Pauley presented a workbook put together by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specifically designed for succession planning in agriculture. The workbook is broken into three sections – where are you now, where do you want to be and how do you get there?

One portion of the workbook highlighted the “D Risks” – death, disability, disaster, divorce, disagreement, debt, depression, dysfunction and denial. 

The book helps individuals identify and prioritize these risks in relation to their operation, brainstorm strategies for mitigating potential issues and how to put strategies into action. 

The book helps address the factors affecting the transition, as well as a variety of challenges and conflicts which could potentially arise through the process of succession planning, as well as provides outlines for actionable steps measurable in a way that is attainable.

A conflict which often arises in succession planning is deciding what is fair versus what is equal. Sweat equity, interest in and intentions for the ranch are all factors which come into play.

There are pages in the workbook allowing families to figure out everyone’s intentions and values, which can help direct the conversation, especially if the intention is to keep the operation in agriculture. 

The workbook is available through the WDA Mediation Program as a physical workbook or as a downloadable PDF. 

Tressa Lawrence is a corresponding writer for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.