At the beginning of 2023, Planfarm Academy was pleased to offer its services to the young people going through the AgCAREERSTART program. Initially, we focused on ensuring that these participants were well prepared for their 12 months ahead in the agricultural...

Brendon Tierney was the ‘young gun’ consultant on the team when I joined Planfarm in 2005. He was universally known as one of the smartest consultants and was liked by everyone who knew him. It was inevitable that he would move on from Planfarm, but he has been missed...

In my December 2023 article, I briefly touched on the crucial role of a good relationship with your Banker or bank in the farm business. I thought it would be useful to delve further into that in this article, as it's a topic that's always relevant and beneficial....

At the end of last year, after much to-ing and fro-ing, I purchased a new TV and eventually decided to go with an LG. As you know, smart TVs come with streaming apps and preinstalled catch-up channels; some, such as the LG, have their live channels. Just recently, as...

Picture this: a country bumpkin standing in a sheep holding pen with 20-odd uni students, wondering what she will learn on a university field day at a farm. "I need a volunteer." Sure. Why not? I step up nervously, awaiting the instructions. "I want you to walk up to...

The recent release of the 2023 national vegetable and onion benchmarks has highlighted the vast range of operating profit margins between the more profitable businesses ($22,900 $/ha), the average ($2,906/ha) and the least profitable (-$16,000/ha). You have to ask,...

I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of drought and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror – The wide brown land for me! So many words in this stanza of the poem ring true. A...

As part of celebrating the 50th year of Planfarm, we recently caught up with a previous employee, Peter Scott who started Planfarm in 2006. Here is a reflection of his time with Planfarm. My Planfarm career – Peter Scott, Grain Marketing Advisor I was diligently...

Carbon farming has burst onto the scene of late, you’re hard pressed to attend a conference or field day without it taking centre stage. This is fuelled a by the global imperative to slow the rise of atmospheric temperatures and bring the world towards ‘net-zero’...

Farm businesses continue to grow in scale and complexity. Once machine capacity has been exhausted, increased capacity comes via the duplication or scalability of that capacity. With this duplication, in-turn, comes the requirement to engage more people, and with this...

I always have reservations writing Landline articles on Grain Markets, given how quickly things can change and how half reasonable advice can look quite poor once it has been distributed to an audience. However, I will do so today (22nd May) and will see how things...

Our farm started seeding this year with two Canadian backpackers on our team. Three weeks later, they’d left – gone to work in Kalgoorlie. We were left feeling let down, disappointed, and overwhelmed with the work that remained. Control what you can control But we...