Online learning available to help farmers analyse farm business performance



Dairy Australia is holding online learning workshops in May to help farmers learn more about tools and resources to help them make better financial and business decisions.

Dairy Farm Business Analysis Online has been designed for farmers and service providers who have a good understanding of the financial fundamentals of their farm and are ready to dig deeper into analysing and understanding the key drivers of their business. 

The pilot program is a seven session, fully supported online learning experience. It assists farmers to prepare to complete an in-depth farm business analysis. By completing this course, you will feel more confident and on top of your farm business. 

Why do Dairy Farm Business Analysis Online?

Undertaking a farm business analysis will enable farmers to pull together meaningful financial and physical data about a farm that can be used to track performance over time and to provide a solid base to make future decisions.

It is difficult to know if a business is operating well without undertaking analysis of the business and linking physical information with financial information. Dairy farms come in all shapes and sizes and what we see doesn’t necessarily tell us how the farm is performing, especially in relation to its cash position, profitability and wealth creation.

This course is about linking the ‘getting the big picture settings right’ in your day to day decision making, like how many cows you should milk, or how exposed can farmers safely be to the purchased feed market and to debt. 

The course will give farmers an overview and introduction to DairyBase, a tool that provides a sound analysis of annual performance. However, we also want participants to question what is behind the numbers, what are they based on and how are they calculated. 

What does Dairy Farm Business Analysis Online involve?

The program consists of seven weekly facilitated online group sessions (each approximately 1 to 2 hours) which are hosted on web-based conferencing software, Zoom. There is also an onboarding session to begin with.

Between sessions participants will put the learnings into place with the guidance of short online modules on Dairy Australia’s Enlight learning platform. 
Zoom and Enlight are easy to use and accessible to anyone with a computer or tablet. 

At the end of this program, farmers will be able to:

  • identify the types of information required to complete a farm business analysis
  • differentiate and complete analysis components of a farm business (cash, profit and wealth) and identify why each view is unique
  • use DairyBase to extract information to analyse a farm business
  • populate DairyBase with your own farming business figures, leading to detailed analysis of the business
  • recognise the law of diminishing marginal returns and how it applies to a unique dairying system
  • calculate the profit maximising level of an input and the required ‘break-even’ output to various inputs
  • identify and describe the benefits of risk vs reward for a farming system
  • apply accrual accounting concepts to farm business invoices
  • calculate cost of production for a farm business
  • complete a farm business analysis using existing DairyBase information from two example farms.

How to enrol

There will be two pilot programs commencing in May and will be delivered offered online to farmers nationally.

Program 1- Facilitated by Cam Smith, commencing on Monday 17th May- 5th July - Time TBC
Program 2- Facilitated by Tom Farran, commencing on Tuesday 25th May-13th July - Time TBC

To register, visit the Events Calendar to complete an expression of interest form. We will contact you to help find a group that fits.

 

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