DES MOINES, IA / ACCESS Newswire / June 30, 2026 / Rena Striegel has noticed something interesting after years of working with farm families. The conversations that families fear the most are often the ones they wish they had started sooner.

Photo credits: Kirstie Veatch Photography

As President of Transition Point Business Advisors, Striegel works with agricultural operations at different stages of transition. Some families arrive with plans already in motion. Others have spent years knowing they need to discuss the future but have never found the right moment to begin.

Waiting Often Feels Easier Than Starting

Many farm owners tell Striegel they intend to address succession planning eventually. The challenge is deciding when.

There is always another season approaching. Another project to finish. Another reason to put the discussion off until later.

Over time, that delay can become a habit.

Striegel has worked with families who spent years assuming there would be a better opportunity to talk about leadership, ownership, or retirement. Then an unexpected health issue, a business change, or a family event suddenly moved those topics from the future into the present.

Nobody Needs All the Answers

One misconception Striegel frequently encounters is the belief that families need a complete roadmap before they can discuss succession.

She disagrees.

In her experience, productive conversations usually begin with uncertainty. People bring questions, concerns, and different ideas about what the future might look like. The purpose of the conversation is not to arrive at solutions. It is to create enough understanding for solutions to emerge.

Some families start by discussing future goals. Others begin by discussing responsibilities that are already changing within the operation. There is no single formula.

What matters is that the discussion starts.

Different Generations Learn Different Things

Striegel often sees family members enter succession conversations with assumptions they have never shared.

Parents may believe their intentions are obvious. Adult children may be interpreting the situation very differently.

One generation may be thinking about retirement. Another may be wondering whether there is a meaningful future for them within the business. Until those perspectives are openly discussed, people can spend years operating under completely different expectations.

Starting early creates room for those differences to be explored gradually rather than during a period of urgency.

Building Momentum Over Time

Raised on a dairy farm in What Cheer, Iowa, Striegel understands that farming decisions are rarely isolated from family relationships.

That is one reason she encourages families to approach succession as a series of conversations rather than a single milestone.

The goal is not to solve every issue in one meeting. The goal is to create enough momentum that families can continue learning, adapting, and making decisions together as circumstances change.

According to Striegel, some of the most meaningful progress begins when someone is willing to ask a simple question about the future and give others permission to do the same.