How do I teach my successor to time harvest and storage decisions at the orchard?
Harvest and storage timing lives in your head, so start by writing down the cues you actually use: fruit feel, taste, weather, bin condition and market calls. Then work a full season beside your successor, explaining each decision as you make it, and gradually hand the calls over to them.
Begin with the decisions you make by habit. Which blocks do you pick first, what tells you a variety is ready, and when do you pull fruit from the field and move it to storage? Write each cue down in plain words, including the ones you cannot quite explain. Your successor will not have your years of seasons to compare against, so a written record of what you saw and decided each year becomes their reference.
Next, move from telling to coaching. Let the successor make the call first and say why, then compare it with yours. Do this through a whole harvest, because early, middle and late picks each teach something different. Include the storage side: how you decide what goes in, what sells fresh, what is checked and how often, and what you do when a lot starts to turn.
Finally, set a handover plan with dates. Decide when the successor takes the lead on harvest and when you step back to adviser. Introduce them to the crew, packers and buyers who rely on those timing calls. Keep a shared notebook through the season, so the reasons behind each call are written down while they are fresh. It becomes your successor’s own reference in later years.
Key takeaways
- Write down the cues behind your harvest and storage calls, not just the dates.
- Let your successor decide first, then compare with your reasoning.
- Set a date when the calls become theirs, and introduce them to buyers.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat is succession planning?
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentAdvice for succession planning - Articles and tools
- 03Canadian Federation of Independent BusinessResearch dataSuccession Tsunami: Preparing for a decade of small business transitions
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