When you think about Josh Maschhoff, many things come to mind. He’s a husband, father, president, son, nephew, firefighter, friend, church elder, coach, sixth-generation hog farmer and director of production and flow for The Maschhoffs to name a few. What he is not is an overly emotional person, says his wife Angela, until you get him talking about the family business.
“Josh respects what the generations before him have accomplished,” she says. “He strives every day to work hard to continue building on what they started. He feels a responsibility to continue the family legacy. He cares not only about his family farm, but also the success of the pork industry in the state of Illinois and across the country.”
Growing up as the sixth generation on the Maschhoff’s family farm in Carlyle, Ill., his earliest memories were riding in the combine with his dad singing Randy Travis’ song, “Digging Up Bones.” When he was in grade school, he remembers the business taking off and adding its first production partners.
“My mom was handling a lot of the book work, so that’s where I learned some of my first computer skills,” he says. “When I went off to college, that expansion continued exponentially and that’s what triggered me to come back. I realized I didn’t want be disconnected from what was happening. I wanted to be included and find my way to support the family business.”
Growing up a Maschhoff meant growing up with a family who encouraged you to go out and do your own thing, he says.
“My mom spent a lot of time driving us to our events and to school every morning and back. She always encouraged us kids to go out and make something else with our lives,” Maschhoff says. “I think that was noble of her. Nobody wants to force their kids to do exactly what they do. But in the end, there’s a secret underlying passion that you wish your kids would come about it on their own to figure out that this farm is pretty cool.”
With big dreams of becoming an engineer, Maschhoff caught everyone by surprise when he decided to follow his heart instead and return to the family’s multi-generational farming business. He understood that coming back home wouldn’t be easy. He knew he wouldn’t be able to just step in and take the job he wanted.
“You have to earn your position here,” Maschhoff says. “I interviewed for a role in the family’s business and was not selected. Nine months later, a spot opened that matched my skill set. Neither the hiring manager nor I were extremely confident I was going to be the absolute right person for the job, but we were both confident I was going to give it 150%. I appreciate that person for taking a chance on me and allowing me to show where my passion could take me.”
Setting Up a Family Advisory Council
Throughout the past few years, the Maschhoff family has been formalizing its succession planning process, he says. Before this time, it was more informal with verbally expressed expectations. The recent creation of a family advisory council has been helpful in guiding the family’s plan for the future.
“The advisory council is made up of four members of my generation – myself, my sister-in-law, my cousin and his brother-in-law,” Maschhoff says. “These are elected roles from our family assembly, made up of everybody who is a bloodline descendant or spouse.”
The process is designed to formalize some governance around how the family will steer their thoughts and ideas to help inform the family business, he explains.
“I think it’s important that governance for family businesses be formalized in some way, because it takes out the gray,” he says. “Having input from multiple generations into that is important as well.”
Their family is working with a third-party business that specializes in helping families work through generational transitioning, as well as formalizing that governance.
“Sometimes these topics can be a little bit awkward to talk about, and that’s because we’re very passionate about what we do,” Maschhoff says. “If questions are raised from one generation to the next, you want to remove that emotional stigma. Having a third party that can look at the question objectively and help you understand the underlying intent of those questions is important. In most cases, those intentions are all very pure at heart.”
Maschhoff has learned a lot by watching his parents and his uncle and aunt over the years.
“The amount of time and effort and work they put into the business shows it’s not just about the business itself, it’s about the overall opportunity to fulfill your main mission in life,” he says. “For us, that’s about helping other people. Feeding families and building communities – that’s what I saw my grandfather and my grandmother doing. That’s what I’ve seen my parents’ generation doing.”
What’s Holding Back the Next Generation?
It’s an interesting period of transition in agriculture. Many farms will be experiencing a transfer of ownership to a new generation — a generation that is already stepping into crucial roles on their farms and in their communities like Maschhoff.
Recent Farm Journal research reveals a surprising twist: Contrary to industry expectations, these young farmers are no more inclined or prepared to adopt cutting-edge farming practices than their predecessors. Their main focus remains on maintaining their current operations rather than pursuing radical changes. This cautious approach means that the anticipated wave of change driven by young farmers will be more gradual and measured – unless they are more supported to test, learn and invest.
Maschhoff says this doesn’t surprise him as farmers are generally traditional in nature. Traditional doesn’t necessarily lend itself to being on the cutting edge all of the time, he adds.
“Young farmers might feel the burden or the pressure to get it right, and that doesn’t mean test the waters every single spot you can find,” he says. “It’s a statistical fact that 13% of family businesses make it through the third generation. We know the suicide rate in agriculture is high. I think these things tie together – that pressure of feeling this responsibility to carry on your family’s tradition combined with this passion for animals or being a good steward of the land. It doesn’t necessarily lend itself to always finding the nicest, newest, brightest, shiny toy and trying to figure out how to incorporate it on your farm.”
Maschhoff believes there’s a lot of calculated risk taking going on in his generation.
“The pork industry is mature,” he says. “I think that’s a buzzword flying around a lot now. I don’t know that you’ll see a ton of growth in the pork industry like the 90s and early 2000s I think you’ll see it be calculated and a little more reserved because of the margin that’s there.”
Watch Out for Blind Spots
Still, he appreciates how resourceful and tenacious people in agriculture can be, Maschhoff says.
“We don’t give up very easily, and that can cause us to have a blind spot at times,” he says. “Don’t let the passion and pride that are our biggest strengths turn into a potential weakness by causing that blind spot. We’ve got to know and anticipate that a slight deviation in course is necessary at times to continue to make us sustainable. Fighting that course correction could be somebody’s downfall or take you down a path that that you weren’t expecting or intending.”
Learn what drives Josh Maschhoff to be successful, how firefighting has grown his leadership skills, and why he’s not afraid to share where he falls short in life on The PORK Podcast. You can watch on YouTube or listen to the podcast anywhere podcasts are found.
Your next read: An Open and Honest Leader for Illinois Pork Producers: Q&A with Josh Maschhoff
