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Unique dairy competition on again - nominate now.
Dairy farmers have an opportunity to be recognised for their business excellence - and get a chance to benchmark themselves against others in the industry - as part of a unique competition.
Entries are now open for the Dairy Business of the Year competition, which features a major prize of $6000 and cash prizes of $1,200 each for regional winners and categories including young farmer and sharefarmer.
The competition was developed by Red Sky Agricultural and Intelact Australia, and is being sponsored by National Australia Bank (NAB) Agribusiness and the dairy industry's services organisation Dairy Australia.
Now in its second year, the competition generated more than 80 entries across southern New South Wales, Victoria and eastern South Australia last time, and is being expanded across the rest of South Australia and into Western Australia and Tasmania.
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Red Sky director David Beca says a key to the competition is the analysis that comes with entering, and the effects of the drought will make things very interesting.
“Every entrant receives a comprehensive review of their financial results, business management and overall farm performance.
“The analysis will allow entrants to benchmark themselves against other farmers in the same region and those using similar farming systems.
“In the dry conditions of the past year, most farmers will have seen their profitability eroded by quite a margin. But some farmers within each region will have done better than others because of the way their businesses are structured and run.
“Finding out how their farm business performed in tough conditions should provide powerful insights into how to develop farm businesses that can cope with both good and not so good times,” Mr Beca said.
Finalists gain free entry to an industry seminar and presentation dinner in Melbourne in June, where the winners will be announced. They will also be invited to a two-day retreat with the opportunity to mix with experts in business performance and share their experiences.
NAB’s Head of Agribusiness for Southern and Western Australia, Neil Findlay, said one of the signs of a good farm business is being open to new ideas.
“This includes finding out the strengths and weaknesses of the business, identifying key areas where improvement is possible, and considering better ways of doing things,” Mr Findlay said.
Participants will need to provide a set of their 2006/07 annual accounts plus approximately one page of supplementary data on their land, herd and feed use. Finalises will also be required to provide accounts for the previous financial year. A helpdesk is available to assist with the questionnaire, and for a small fee dairy farmers can have someone come out to their farm to assist them to complete the entry form.
The key judging criteria is Return on Assets, other factors to be considered include profit per hectare, cost of production milk production per hectate, pasture harvest per hectate, cost of feed, labour efficiency and core cost structure.
Entries close on 14 March 2008. There is a sliding scale entry fee of up to $285. It will be discounted for existing customers and NAB Agribusiness clients.
For more information please refer to the attached Information Sheet (PDF, 428kb)
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