2015 release: ‘Farming the Business’ 

We are so excited that, after months of hard work and keen anticipation, we have just completed and delivered the newly released farm business management manual ‘Farming the Business’. P2PAgri, with Mike Krause as primary author, developed this manual for the Grains Research Development Corporation (GRDC). This represents a significant investment by the GRDC in supporting Australian grain growers to develop improved business management skills.

The need for improved farm business management skills has been identified as critical for Australian farmers. The business of farming is becoming more challenging with greater variations in commodity prices, continual uncertainty with weather patterns and the challenge of declining terms of trade. At the same time, the demand for agricultural produce is significant and provides great opportunity to Australian agriculture.

The aim of this manual is to help farmers and their advisers develop the essential business management skills to maintain business sustainability, while taking advantage of the opportunities currently occurring in Australian agriculture.

The manual is organised into three modules that answer questions critical to successful farm business management.

Module 1: What do I need to know about business to manage my farm business successfully?

 

The first module provides an overview of the business of farming, covering the economic environment, people management and the basics of sound farm business management. The aim of this section is to provide an overview to highlight areas to improve your farm business management skills.

Module 2: Where is my farm business now and where do I want it to be?

 

The aim of Module 2 is to provide the ‘how to’ of sound farm business management analysis and planning. It goes through how to develop a business vision, the essential farm business budgets to measure financial performance, and financial and performance ratios. It provides detail on what financial reports should be generated so that you can have greater control of your farm business management and improve business sustainability.

Module 3: How do I take my business to the next level?

 

This module covers more advanced topics to extend and refine your farm business management. Some of the topics are risk management, succession planning and what analytical tools you should use to answer those important ‘what-if’ questions for scenario analysis.

  • Hard copies of this manual are available from GRDC’s Ground Cover Direct:

Free phone: 1800 11 00 44, Email: ground-cover-direct@canprint.com.au

When ordering, please quote Order No. GRDC873.  The manual is free and there is a limited number of copies available.  There is a postage and handling charge of $10.00.