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Episode 15: Understanding Australia's soaring farmland prices with Agrarian Management

In this episode, our host David is joined by the founder of Agrarian Management, Paul McKenzie, focusing on the topic of conversation at every rural gathering - land prices. Over the years, Australia's land prices have been on a rising trajectory. A report published by Rural Bank stated that the median price per hectare of Australian farmland has increased by 20% in 2021 to $7,087 per hectare. David and Paul will discuss the impact of rising land and commodity prices, the alternatives to buying more land and the land buying headwinds that must be considered before purchase.Paul has over 29 years of experience providing advice in farm business management, corporate governance, risk mitigation, finance, grain marketing, staff recruitment and succession planning to high-net wealth farm business owners and investors. His impressive credentials continue as Paul is also the Director of several ASX, research and large private and sovereign wealth agri companies and an enthusiastic farmer.

Episode 14: The impact of biosecurity on your bottom line with NT Farmers

This episode is joined by Paul Burke, CEO of NT Farmers. Paul has been a passionate agricultural advocate for over 20 years, from representing Agforce in Queensland to Northern Territory Cattlemans Association, NT Department of Primary Industry and Resources and now as the CEO of NT farmers. Together with David, Paul will discuss one of the hot topics in agriculture; biosecurity and how farmers and the wider community can actively manage the risks. They will explore the strategies on how you, as a farmer, can include biosecurity into your financial planning and budgeting habits to improve your banking relationships and lower your financial risks and lending margins. Throughout the episode, Paul helps us understand the uniqueness of Northern Australia and paints a compelling picture of his vision for the industry.

Episode 13: Lean in with David Egerton-Warburton

Being in the farm business is not for the faint of hearts. For those outside the profession, it's easy to assume the operation/production side of the business is the only aspect that needs focus. But that cannot be furthest from the truth.In today's episode, Agrimaster's Director David shares his personal journey into the industry and the importance of being exposed to all aspects of the business, specifically financial management. Like many, David officially began his farming journey fresh out of university. He assumed his newfound theoretical knowledge was all that was needed for him to continue his family farming legacy. Being the son of the founder of Agrimaster, David was never hidden from budgeting, cash flow process or the financial side of the business. But being the young farmer that he was, he admitted taking over the books or understanding the numbers was never a priority until the worst happened when the wool prices crashed in 1996.If you are reading this and thinking you can relate, listen to this episode and get the insights, learnings and strategies he implemented to gain an in-depth understanding of financial aspects.

Episode 12: How Karradale Farms achieved two expansions in one decade with Agrimaster

This episode is joined by two special guests, Anna-Lisa Newman and David Neve, long-term users of Agrimaster share their personal journey into farming and the importance of building financial management skills over time. Anna-Lisa is a proactive and successful farmer as well as being the founding Chairwoman of Women In Farming Enterprise (WIFE). Anna-Lisa began her farming journey with her husband Craig in 2003. Throughout the episode, Anna-Lisa and David talk about how they work together, how to maximise the value from your advisor, personal benchmarking and the importance of developing management recordkeeping and cash flow management rhythm.

Episode 11: Agtech pioneer Kent receives OAM for Agrimaster Software

This special episode is joined by the founder and writer of Agrimaster, Kent Egerton-Warburton, who has been honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to the Agtech sector.What started as a passion project 40 years ago with a simple goal of developing a program that could be used on his own farm is now being used by thousands of farmers across Australia.From being a sheep farmer to becoming a self-taught programmer, Kent has done an incredible job creating a program that has stood the test of time.Listen to Kent's journey now.

Episode 10: Navigating through fluctuating market conditions in 2022/2023 with Planfarm

2021 was a record-breaking year for Australian farmers. Despite the changes within the market and the new set of challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian farmers excelled in their fields. However, with the continuous economic and political changes that significantly impact the global scale, it can be difficult to navigate and make concrete decisions for the growth of your farm business. With high fluctuations within the market, one wrong decision can result in major losses, which can have a domino effect on your upcoming year's production. In today's episode, David will be joined by Rob Grima, a farm business consultant with Planfarm with 20 years of experience within the industry. Together with David, Rob will discuss what factors should be accounted for and anticipated for in the 2022/2023 farming seasons, strategies to invest your profit and the importance of keeping strong financial disciplines in both 'good' and 'bad' years.

Episode 9: Future of country towns in Australia with WAFarmers

Australia's population is on a rising trajectory, estimated to be almost 26 million, and of those, only 4 million live in rural and regional Australia. But what's more, there are only a little over 1.5 million settled in Australia's 1614 country towns which have a population of less than 5000. Each year this number is declining at a rate of 1% while major cities are growing. These small towns play essential roles in servicing the 55,000 broadacre farms. So why is there a rapid decline? Is there a solution to attract quality workers for significant roles to be filled on the farm? Is there any government support to better the situation? In this episode, David is joined by the CEO of WAFarmers, Trevor Whittington, to answer all these questions. Together they discussed the importance of implementing actions such as improving education and healthcare system to providing incentives for families to attract skilled workers for the survival of these towns.

Episode 8: Alternative family farming model with DB Ag

In this episode, we'll introduce you to Matt Dart from DB Ag. Matt has been involved in the agriculture sector for 20 years. Matt held the position of Agribusiness Manager at Westpac and Rabo Bank in both Albury and Wagga for nine years. Mat manages "Felix Farm" for the DB Group, responsible for input procurement, contractor facilitation, financial control, budgeting and the completion of day to day operations on the property at Ariah Park. In addition to completing the financial control and administration for the group.Together with David, Matt will discuss his journey into the ag industry and different management structures on the farm that you can explore, which will help you separate family from business and provide valuable advice on retaining great talent.

Episode 7: Land management with Rabobank

In this final episode of the Facey Group mini-series collaboration, our hosts David and Kelly are joined by Ian Donaldson, Manager of the Real Estate Appraisal Team at Rabobank. Ian has a broad range of agricultural experience and has been with Rabobank for almost 20 years. With his strong expertise across a wide range of farming enterprises across all the WA agricultural regions, together with our hosts, Ian will discuss the reasons behind the increase in land and lease prices, what actions you can take as a farmer, and possible future trends and opportunities, and the impact of market changes on the value of your land. With current market situations, you can expect the unexpected. Get the insights today!

Episode 6: Duty of care with Bailiwick Legal

Regardless of the industry, understanding the laws that you’ll be operating under is essential. As part of the continuous collaboration with the Facey Group, our hosts David and Kelly will be joined by Phil and Danielle from Bailiwick Legal to explain the concept of ‘Duty of Care’ with real-life examples and cases that have happened as well as explore the intersection between legal obligations and ‘social licence to farm’. Phill Brunner, the Managing Director and Danielle Edwards, an Associate at Bailiwick Legal, a firm that’s been recognised as the leader in Agribusiness Law in Western Australia, offering specialist legal solutions to advance and protect the interests of corporations and families in the ag industry. Phil has been repeatedly recognised as a ‘Leading Agribusiness Lawyer' by Doyle's Guide and has appeared before Fari Work Australia, the Federal Magistrates Court and the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission. Danielle graduated from Murdoch University with a Bachelor of Laws degree, before going on to complete her Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice through the College of Law. She was admitted to practice as a Solicitor in the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 2016 and the High Court of Australia in 2019.