Knowledge on farm expansion

FARM expansion is on the cards in the next five years for Tandarra farmer James Taylor, “but we don’t know what that looks like yet”, he says.

“Do we buy, lease, share farm, become more intensive?” he said.

“What are the pros and cons of each?

“Which will be more profitable for our farm and how do we find the sweet spot between labour, machinery and expansion?”

All very good questions, and hopefully, if one or more of those is on the tip of your tongue, one or more of the answers will be revealed at Birchip Cropping Group’s Farm Expansion Day on Tuesday, July 25, at the Birchip Leisure Centre.

It has been tailor-made in response to calls from many farmers to provide information on this complex topic and you can register for the free event at bcg.org.au/event/farm-expansion-day.

“With rising interest rates, inflation, variation in seasonal outlooks, market volatility, family members coming back to the farm, parents looking to retire et cetera, there are myriad reasons why farmers are looking to expand to increase profits,” event organiser Grace Hosking said.

BCG’s Farm Expansion Day will cover:

• Land investment principles – buy versus lease versus share farm, with ORM’s Ben Hogan

• Farming beyond family – human resources and recruitment with Denise McLennan

• Machinery investment decisions and benchmarking with Kondinin Group’s Ben White

• Managing growth within the business with Carmen Quade.

“The event will conclude with a panel of farmers and advisers sharing their farm expansion experiences, including how advisory boards can aid such decisions,” Ms Hosking said.

“While there is no prescriptive approach to expansion, this half-day workshop will provide you with key tools to guide objective expansion decisions.”

The event will run from 9.30am to 3pm and for more information, call the BCG office on 5492 2787.

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