This analysis focuses on successors employed at agricultural production corporations, and particularly on their current working status, in order to summarize the challenges these successors face with respect to acquiring relevant agricultural production and business abilities and skills. We review the various issues that arise in the course of training these individuals as successors and the methods used for resolving these issues. We also uncover the factors that determine a successors’ intention to eventually take up the position of corporate president.
A difference exists between the work environment provided by agricultural production corporations and the working conditions sought by successors. Corporations tend to prioritize facility and other improvements, whereas successors tend to seek better salary and insurance benefits. Therefore, these areas of importance to successors will need to be improved in order to secure and train successors.
Conditions to encourage successors to set up permanent residence in the community include, amongst others, housing, improved convenience, and spousal employment. Approaches are needed that focus not only on the successor, but also on his or her family. Housing in particular is crucial in order to attract individuals residing outside of the community to work at these corporations.
Vision and goals, or lack thereof, on the part of individuals who gain employment at an agricultural production corporation, were found to be “factors that determine the intention of a successor who is currently employed at an agricultural production corporation to eventually take up the position of corporate president.” The key was each individual’s intention to develop his or her decision-making abilities for making necessary operational decisions based on crop growth, as well as to develop his or her accounting abilities.

View full abstract