Planfarm Marketing are now into our 12th year of Grain Marketing benchmarks, and at times it feels as though the previous five seasons have paved the way for a new kind of normal

While we acknowledge no grain marketing strategy is ever the same, to continue to improve, benchmarking should be a part of your annual grain marketing health check. Planfarm Marketing’s benchmark approach, which compares marketing strategies, performance metrics, and financial outcomes within the grain industry across farms and against industry standards, evaluates the effectiveness of your grain marketing relative to your peers.

When benchmarking, it is imperative to recognise every business has its own characteristics and requirements – some farmers forward sell to a higher level on account of lower production risk, whilst some can carry grain for an extended period of time due to lower cashflow pressure, some can do neither, and some can do both. Just like farming, what works well some years doesn’t work well in other years. For these reasons, we recommend clients create and implement a sales strategy tailored to their business and roll the strategy across multiple seasons.

Our benchmarking process identifies strengths and weaknesses in pricing, timing and risk management practices, enabling data-driven improvements and, in turn, high profitability. With that being said, if you find you are towards the bottom of benchmarks year in, year out, it is important to review your marketing strategy to ensure improvements going forward.

Benchmarking your Grain Marketing can drive a structured approach to improving profitability, efficiency and resilience in grain production. In comparing marketing performance against industry leaders, growers can make informed decisions about when, how and where to sell their grain. Over time, benchmarking fosters continuous learning, encourages innovation and enhances market competitiveness across the grain sector.

The table below demonstrates the Planfarm Marketing Client Average for the Kwinana port zone, measured against –

• The 18 month cash average (1 January 2024 to 30 June 2025)
• The harvest cash average (1 October 2024 to 31 January 2025)
• The CBH Harvest Pool (estimated at 20 October 2025)
• The Flexi Starter Pool (finalised, includes average quality reward bonuses).

Table 1 – Planfarm Marketing Average versus Cash Pricing & CBH Pools

Planfarm Marketing clients have performed very well against all four industry benchmarks for all commodities.

Important points to note…

• Client results include cash (FIS & site) contracts, pools and swap losses/gains, presented by grade.
• Delivered End User (DEU) contracts and sales post 30th September are not included in the results.
• CBH Pool and cash price average numbers are weighted to reflect the same quality of grain that Planfarm Marketing clients are selling.
• CBH Pool values have been benchmarked utilising the Distribution payment method, thus payments are spread across the 2025 calendar year; Cash sales were predominately made much earlier in the season. We have not made an adjustment for the finance cost of using such pools or for cash sales made post-harvest.
• All canola prices (including client results) are calculated on the base price and do not include oil/admixture adjustments.
• ASW1 and AGP1 prices have been used prior to AWW1 and AWW2 becoming available.

Just like farming, what works well some years doesn’t work well in other years. For these reasons, we recommend clients create and implement a sales strategy tailored to their business and roll the strategy across multiple seasons.

Table 2 – Planfarm Marketing – Timing of Sales

Planfarm Marking – 2024/25 season Timing of Sales Charts linked here >
2024 Season Timing of Sales and price charts

So, if you are yet to implement Grain Marketing benchmarking, we invite you to contact our Grain Marketing team and have your Grain Marketing health checked in line with our Planfarm Marketing’s 2024/25 grower group link here.

On behalf of the Planfarm Marketing team, we wish you a safe and prosperous harvest – the 2025/26 season is shaping up to be a podium finish, and likewise, we hope your grain marketing takes centre stage too.