Twenty-one years ago, I joined 11 others at Planfarm. Apart from me, only Graeme McConnell remains, and there are now 50 team members at Planfarm. I was encouraged to join the team by Walter Milsteed and Andrew Rintoul at the Narrogin office (back room of a shared old house) from my then role as an Agribusiness Manager at the NAB. It took 12 months.

So, taking the plunge, I embarked on my career as a Farm Management Consultant for 30% less pay, armed with a laptop, Agrimaster program, our analysis tool (known internally as Conrec) and a second-hand Commodore, for which I was given a budget of $20,000. I made the change as I saw it as a great opportunity for growth and to use my skills to help farming businesses thrive in what was a difficult period of variable seasons and lacklustre commodity prices. Interest rates were also high at the time. I also felt that the future of Planfarm was very positive and that, one day, I might have the opportunity to become a part owner of the business. I also could not have made the change without the support of my wife, Tracey, as we had a very young family of two girls under five at the time.

When I joined Planfarm it offered two primary services, Farm Management Consulting and Agronomy, and a supporting service of Financial Planning. Now, it provides Farm Management Consulting (broadacre), Agronomy, Grain Marketing, Livestock Consulting, Carbon Accounting and Land Management, Farm Investment Management, Farm Management Consulting (Horticulture), Systems consulting (Elevate), Finance Broking and Bookkeeping. There is an amazing array of services on offer to the agriculture industry, many of which have come on in the past 5 years.

So, what else has changed? From a statistics perspective (because you know how consultants love their numbers) things have changed a lot:

What does all that mean? It demonstrates that farm sizes have grown from expansion, and other farmers are retiring or leaving the industry. Equity has grown massively through the retention of profits and land value increases. On a production front, crop areas have increased whilst those with stock in their system have decreased (interestingly the flock size per farm has increased). A more obvious one is that machinery per hectare has also increased significantly.

Over the years I have seen most businesses thrive with very few failing and having to leave the industry. There have been farms sold and leased due to the retirement of farmers, who most successfully left with great wealth and income streams. There have been several periods of poor returns and/or losses that resulted in the weakening of some businesses almost to collapse however, through prudent management decisions and damn hard work most of these businesses have recovered and are now in very strong positions. This can only be attributed to the farm owners and managers putting in hard work and showing great resilience. Resilience is not a word I use often however it is an apt word for this occasion.

I have been fortunate in my roles at Planfarm to have travelled to several parts of the world for business reasons including far-flung places such as Harbin in northeast China (not far from the Russian border) enduring -32c temperatures on one visit and almost dying of frostbite when the temperature plummeted from 14c to -10c in 30 minutes whilst on a recreational walk along the river. Other destinations of great interest were Riyadh in Saudi Arabia where I got chauffeured around the city by the second female in KSA to obtain her driver’s license and Kruhna in India where I was a guest speaker at an agricultural event attended by thousands. From Krushna, via a very “interesting” car journey I visited an advanced agricultural university, and several organic farms ending in Bengal. I have no idea why they paint lines on roads in India as no one seems to take any notice of them. Between these, there have been conferences in New York, financial planning seminars in New Zealand, several Australian cities, and agricultural investment conferences in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I have met some interesting people and have learnt a lot along the way.

As I leave Planfarm, I would like to say a big thank you to all the wonderful people I have worked with throughout my time and especially to my former clients who, not only have been a joy to work with because of their passion for what they do but on several occasions helping me out when a dodgy car or two haven’t quite behaved themselves.

While I have no specific plans for the future, apart from taking some time off, I am sure that I will remain in agriculture and will cross paths somewhere along the line for those I know.

All the best to all our valued Planfarm clients and the Planfarm Team.

Bye for now.