Welcome to Farm Management 500

FARM500 aims to improve the adoption of better farm business management skills by fostering open and interactive farmer group meetings. Members share ideas and experiences to improve their skills, their lives and the profitability of their family farms.

Farm500 Businesses Grow at $143,000 per Year

Farm Management 500’s Farm Performance Summit was the culmination of 12 months of data collection and analysis for over 200 Farm500 members. The recent Summit, sponsored by NAB, revealed the average growth in Net Worth of Farm500 businesses since 1996 was $143,000 per year.

The Summit database (created specifically for the project) analysed performance over the past seven years of 224 Farm500 businesses. The majority of businesses participating in the Summit were grain producers from Victoria.

Of the total growth in Net Worth, 30 per cent is attributed to capital appreciation in land values, 17 per cent to increase in area farmed and 53 per cent to increase in machinery value. In addition to the strong growth in Net Worth, return on capital (ROC) of up to 16 per cent was achieved.

Key findings of the Farm500 Farm Performance Summit:

• Average farm income is $420,000
• Farm costs (including family labour) average 91 per cent of Total Farm Income.
• Debt has increased 69 per cent since 1996, however Equity remains strong at 85 per cent of total Assets.
• Strong performance is achieved when costs are in balance with actual income NOT expected income.
• High income volatility resulted in lower average profits.
• Leasing and sharefarming help and have grown farm scale by 4% since 1996.
• The shift to cropping from livestock is increasing.
• Cereal crop area has increased by 7 per cent since 1996.
• Livestock numbers in grain growing areas is decreasing.

Booklet available

A new booklet explaining the Farm500 Key Indicators and Drivers of Profit and how they apply to your farm is being produced by Farm Management 500. Contact Matt McCarthy on 03 5441 6176 for more details.

Internet Case Studies

Farm500.web project officer Matt McCarthy conducted interviews with several members from across south eastern Australia about how the internet was impacting on their business. If you have ever wondered just what benefits the internet has brought to farm business, have a read of these case studies. Farm500 would like to thank the members who contributed their time and information for the case studies.

Click here to read how Farm500 members are using the internet in their business

Farm Management 500 is supported by: