A new online tool from Dairy Australia allows farmers to do business profitability assessments anywhere, anytime, on a device of their choice.
The Farm Business Snapshot shows the overall cash and profit position of a business and enables farmers to assess these as a measure of efficiency against key inputs.
Registered users are able to make comparisons against regional benchmark data and utilise the tool's traffic light feature to assess the position of their business.
Dairy Australia's lead - farm business data Helen Quinn said benchmarking the farm year on year was the best way for farmer to review their business.
"The Farm Business Snapshot enables you to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the business and identify opportunities to increase profit and manage risk," Ms Quinn said.
The Farm Business Snapshot provides an analysis of the historical performance of a dairy farm business, helping farmers to better understand production costs and overall profitability. The reports will provide additional information to support the decision-making process and enable farmers to take actions in their business that best suit their needs.
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The cash report enables farmers to assess their ability to generate income, pay bills and service debt, and determine if a cash surplus is generated as a result. It is an assessment of the 'here and now'.
The profit report enables farmers to assess the performance of the farm business over time and assess the longer-term sustainability of that business. It includes adjustments for non-cash items such as inventory changes, depreciation and imputed labour.
The inclusion of imputed labour and depreciation ensures the business is generating sufficient income to cover the cost of the owner-operator, and to enable the business to replace assets such as machinery and vehicles as required and still have sufficient profit to generate a return to the business owner.
"The Farm Business Snapshot is a great first step on your farm business journey," Ms Quinn said.
"You can also build on the information generated by utilising some of Dairy Australia's other tools including DairyBase.''
To sign up for the Farm Business Snapshot tool, visit www.dairyaustralia.com.au/FBS.
For a more comprehensive analysis of the farm business performance, visit www.dairyaustralia.com.au/dairybase.
This project is supported by the Department of Agriculture, through funding from the Australian Government.
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