FARM MANAGEMENT 500 – To Accelerate the Adoption of Improved Farm Business Management

After nineteen years of continuous operation the Farm Management 500 program closed down on June 30th 2010.

Whilst there is a certain amount of sadness associated with closing down the program, Farm Management 500 can be rightly proud of its achievements over the years. The local group meetings have provided much insight for members and significant trust and commitment has built up within the groups. Members will remember the project for many things, especially the fellowship and support between members. It has also helped many with major changes in their lives such as expanding the farm, selling the farm, business succession and personal development.

Farm Management 500 was a private, group extension program that operated across South Eastern Australia for 19 years from 1991 – 2010. At its peak, more than 40 groups were active with over 500 farming families involved.

The program took a ‘whole of business approach’ to the farm embracing the people, financial and production/natural resource aspects.

Farm Management 500 was fertile ground for innovations and new thinking in farm business analysis and improvement.

Farm Management 500 had three main sources of funding; farmer subscriptions, government grants for business training projects and corporate sponsorship. The most notable sponsor was National Australia Bank who were major sponsors of Farm Management 500 for its entire lifetime.

The outcomes of many Farm Management 500 projects had impacts far beyond the membership contributing to wider industry and community goals.

UNIQUE BEGINNINGS

The founders of Farm Management 500 were a group of individual, private agricultural consultants who formed a collegiate structure to launch the Farm Management 500 not-for-profit company. The company delivered group based activities, information and networks for the wider industry good on a fee for service basis.

This unique collegiate, co-operative structure served the company well for the 19 years it was in existence.  The reason it worked was the ability of the individual consultants to collectively contribute their vision, insight and energy for the betterment of the groups learning and networking. The willingness of the farmer group members to share details of their personal and business challenges was also a significant factor in the success of Farm Management.

GROUP STRUCTURE

Farm Management 500 groups were made up of 10 – 18 businesses and met at least four times per year with a full program of current farm business management topics and issues. The group facilitator (a contracted agricultural consultant) was responsible for the planning , organising and delivery of group activities. The facilitator was monitored by key performance indicators that encouraged maximum attendance and participation by group members. In some cases these groups lasted for the 19 years with many original members still involved.

While local group activities were the core of Farm Management 500, other events and projects added value to the group program.

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS AND TRIPS AWAY

Workshops that combined a number of groups together, and later State based conferences, were a popular feature of Farm Management 500. In the early 2000’s the attendances at the 3 day Bendigo conference were over 300. These events utilised technology to bring farm experts from the USA and Canada to the conference. Memorably, in 1999 video conferencing technology was used to beam Dan Manternach’s (President ProFarmer America) presentation live and allow interaction with the audience.

FARM500 GLOBAL

This initiative forged links with like-minded farm groups in Canada, USA and UK. The focus facilitated considerable exchange of information across the globe and inspired a number of members and consultants to travel and learn about farming overseas. In 2004 over forty Farm500 members took part in an unforgettable 19 day study tour of Western Canada as guests of the Pike Management Group, Alberta.

A few of the other significant achievements of Farm Management 500 over the 19 years include;

FARM PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKING AND ANALYSIS

Farm Management 500 took a lead role in the ground breaking GRDC funded FAST (Farming Families and Sustainable Technology) project that ran from 1992 – 1996. This national project revolutionised the way that farm financial and production performance was measured, analysed and interpreted. The project lead to the introduction of new industry accepted benchmarks and key performance indicators. At a program level, the FAST analysis provided a fantastic insight and comparison for the participating farms. Several industry publications were launched from the FAST program.

In 2003 Farm Management 500 staged a Farm Performance Summit which involved another wave of data collection and analysis and reporting. Over 150 farms were involved in the simultaneous analysis which provided valuable insight into the returns on investment and profitability being achieved.

The Summit led to the production of a book to capture the application of the KPI’s with benchmarks and the process behind whole of business benchmarking. “Business Health Indicators for Professional Farmers” was co-funded by Farm Management 500 and National Australia Bank and went on sale in late 2004. The publication remains unique and is still available (downloadable PDF is available on this website).

THE GOLDEN COCKY AWARDS

Bestowing of the Farm500 Cocky Awards was part of the major benchmarking initiative in 2003. The Cocky Awards recognised the Farm500 groups who had averaged highest in the three categories of Farm Profit, Return on Capital and Growth in Net Worth.

SUSTAINABLE FARM FAMILIES HEALTH PROGRAM

This program was piloted and developed in a joint project with the Western District Community Health Service during 2003 – 2005. This program had a significant impact on the lifestyles and health habits of all 120 members who took part in the pilot. The SFF program went on to win Federal and State funding to be delivered by the National Centre for Farmer Health in primary industries across Australia.

E-BUSINESS AND INTERNET

Assessing the value of e-business and internet as a farm management tool. Intensive hands on training was provided to all members. An on-line farm e-business guide was developed and made available to all farmers in 2000 to assist them to make sense of the emerging world-wide-web at the time. This project received funding through the Federal Networking the Nation program.

VIEWS FROM THE VERANDAH

One of the more unusual achievements was the development and piloting of a unique life planning tool which was adapted and commercialised by St Luke’s Innovative Resources. It is now sold into many countries as the ‘Views from the Verandah life planning cards and used by counsellors and advisers.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

For more information please contact:
ORM 03 5441 6176 admin@orm.com.au

Farm Management 500 is supported by: