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RM 103: Keeping a Positive Focus
Dr. Ron Hanson, Univ. of Nebraska

Keeping a Positive Focus

It takes a team approach for a family farm operation to be successful, says Ron Hanson, professor of economics at the University of Nebraska. Hanson addressed cattlemen Wednesday morning, Jan. 28, during a Cattlemen’s College workshop prior to the 2004 Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show in Phoenix, Ariz.

It’s important for all parties in the operation – parents, sons and daughters, and sons- and daughters-in-law – to feel needed and a part of the operation, says Hanson, who has been helping families resolve conflicts for 26 years. Sharing several pertinent cartoons and real-life examples, Hanson characterized the roles family members play and where problems arise that can cause the breakup of the family farm.

Hanson says his own life might have been far different if his father and grandfather could have resolved their differences. When he was 16 years old, he says, in one night, in one argument, his family lost not only the farm, it lost the family.

Hanson detailed potential areas for disagreement, team-building strategies and tips for handling conflicts (see proceedings paper, available via link below).

“A family operation that ends up being dissolved is often the result of personal conflicts between family members simply due to the fact that they were not able to get along and work together as a family unit,” Hanson says. One of the keys is to learn to have disagreements without being disagreeable.

— by Shauna Rose Hermel