Aust top producers put theories to work

Rural Directions consultant Simon Vogt spoke at the Growing SA conference about research showing the contrast between the top 20 per cent of farmers and the average farmer in a benchmark study.

“We find the top 20pc of farmers get an 8pc return on equity, while the average is 3pc,” he said.

“There is significant opportunity to close the gap.”

Mr Vogt said the resource base, such as the farm or herd size, of the two groups was the same – showing “it’s the jockey, not the horse” that was the difference.

He said the biggest profit drivers were optimising the gross margin, minimising overhead costs, and management of people and risk.

Mr Vogt said timeliness was a big advantage that did not cost extra.

He said most farmers were aware of the optimal window to finish seeding in their region but the top 20pc of farmers achieved this regularly.

“The implementation gap is larger than the knowledge gap,” he said.

He said the top farmers do this by assessing the required window and adding time for contingencies.

“It’s amazing how much profitability is set up in February and March,” he said.

“Setting up for seeding timeliness can equal up to 10pc more yield.”

Mr Vogt said one factor that did not have an impact was price, with records showing that the price received per tonne was comparable.