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News Releases
October 28, 2009
Fall Harvest by Greg WolfOne of the thrills of being a homeschooling father is getting another run through some pretty interesting subjects. Lately, we've been going through the early American settlements--Jamestown, Plymouth Colony, and the Massachusetts Bay Company. Even though the Pilgrims at Plymouth were not the first American settlers, no doubt it felt like it to them. Intending, in 1620, to end up in Virginia close to Jamestown, which was settled in 1607, they instead narrowly survived a winter storm that drove them north to Massachusetts and, with the inclement conditions, it was too late and treacherous to follow the coast south. Barely surviving that first winter, it would be fair to make assumptions about how primitive the Pilgrims' accommodations were, in the new land. But some of those assumptions would actually be incorrect--the Plymouth Colony was settled in an area that was already cleared and prepared for agriculture. And, they found a cache of underground seed corn sufficient for planting 20 acres. More amazing though than that was one day another human being walked into the colony and offered an English "Welcome!" His name was Samoset and he had learned a little of the language from fishermen who had come to the Atlantic Coast for cod in previous years.
But an even greater marvel was yet to come--Samoset soon brought a Native American, Squanto, to meet the Pilgrims. He not only spoke fluent English, but a little Spanish, after having lived as a slave for years in both of those countries. I had forgotten all of this, but what Squanto, whose own tribe was completely destroyed by disease in his absence, did to help the Pilgrims meant life for them over death in America. He mediated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and an Indian tribe in the area, which lasted over 50 years. Agriculturally, his most significant contribution was helping them plant the seed corn in the spring of 1621 and, especially, showing them how to fertilize the depleted soil with three herring per hill of corn. I didn't read this anywhere, but Squanto was the first crop consultant in America! I have no idea what the yield of those 20 acres might have been, except that it was more than enough, and that is what mattered. The celebration over that harvest and of one successful year in the colony led to an invite of Squanto's adopted tribe for a day of feasting and games--the earliest American basis for our Thanksgiving observation today.
American agriculture has enjoyed a number of wonderful harvests since those first 20 acres, including one close to 13 billion bushels of corn this fall. I have always enjoyed the fall season the most, with its harvest, even though it has never rivaled the social popularity of wheat harvest. The cooling weather, the vibrant fall hues, the advent of hunting season...these have all been favorites of mine. I have on my wall, as I write, a beautiful picture of an evening sun lighting up multi-colored heads of milo, and a verse from the Psalms that the Pilgrims likely once quoted:
"Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us."
Beyond these production harvests, however, there are other harvests that parallel them in meaning. In a family business setting, such as most farms and ranches, this can mean the harvest of family "wealth" accumulated through years, and likely generations of hard work, good teachings, and much time spent together. This family wealth does often include things that are financial in nature, such as equity in land, annual income streams, and returns from financial assets. "Fall" is a time to think about estate planning, which is the transition of assets from one generation to another, and retirement planning, which involves an income stream from those assets. It is also time to think about succession planning. All three of these typically blend together; but, in succession planning, we are talking about not just the transfer of assets, or the consideration of income, but the transfer of management. It is more gradual than the fall harvest taking place today, but is nevertheless real, and important enough to plan for. It has been somewhat of a joke in our industry, but often all too true, that a farmer reaches a point in life where he starts to think about retirement, not having really received much of the management responsibility of the farm from his own parents.
Some even broader aspects of family wealth include shared values, beliefs, memories, and relationships with one another. These aspects of family wealth cannot be tabulated financially but have a way of superseding financial issues, as important as they may be. In a very real sense, these too represent a harvest, a fruit born of much "blood, sweat and tears," and deeply satisfying to those who have invested over the years. In fact, these harvests come to mean the most to those who have invested the most--those who are more associated with the fall season of life.
Editor's note: Greg Wolf is a consultant with Kennedy and Coe, LLC (www.kcoe.com) and works to help clients of the firm navigate toward better returns in all areas of their businesses. He is based in the firm's Pratt, Kan., office and can be reached at 620-672-7476.
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