Greg Duncan’s love of dairy developed while studying agricultural science at Charles Sturt University, when he took on a relief milking and herd recording assistant role with the university dairy. Greg later became herd manager before moving into an animal health role at Pfizer and then joined Dairy NSW. In 2022, Greg took on the role of Dairy Australia’s farm business lead and is now agribusiness program lead.

Working in dairy helped me understand how the decisions you make in the morning or during the day can impact on the result in the vat that evening.

I also very quickly learnt that a lot of a farm’s success comes from knowing your numbers.

This inspired me to want to help farmers to better understand their financials and systems.

I have seen firsthand how supporting farmers with a deeper understanding the business side of things helps with informing decisions in all areas of farming – whether it’s about herd performance, feed management or fertility.

Farmers are facing rising input costs and climate-related challenges, so it’s rewarding to help them feel more confident and in control of their finances.

This does not have to be complex task.

Farm Business Snapshot is a simple online tool that helps dairy farmers quickly assess their farm’s costs and income.

With minimal data, it provides a clear starting point to understand business performance and identify ways to manage input costs.

Dairy Australia also has three main farm business programs – Farm Business Fundamentals, Dairy Farm Business Analysis and Our Farm, Our Plan – designed to help farmers at all different stages in their farm businesses better understand their financial position and the opportunities to then make better long-term, strategic decisions for improved profitability.

Each of these programs has a specific focus, and I find that farmers become more confident about their business position and the future after completing them.

I was heavily involved in the pilot program for Our Farm, Our Plan, which takes a longer-term, bigger-picture view of the business direction.

The program has been delivered to more than 1350 farmers since its launch in 2019.

Seeing farmers and members of the farm business get on the same page about where they want to go and how they’re going to get there is particularly exciting.

Our Farm, Our Plan offers 1:1 support and is now being delivered directly to farmers, where we bypass the workshops and go straight to the kitchen table.

This suits a lot of farmers, and the feedback has been really positive.

In the next 12-18 months, we’ll be developing advanced farm business management training and resources to build on Our Farm, Our Plan to equip farmers to take their business to the next level.

Our Farm, Our Plan helps capture and set out where people want to be in the long-term and what they have to do to achieve that – and is as much about personal goals as it is business goals.

Getting the balance right is important, and planning underpins that.

We all get stuck in the day-to-day business of life, but it’s important to slow down and take stock to check in that we’re continuing to head in the right direction.

A regular planned analysis of a business helps keep things on track.

We also run a series of webinars to help farmers be better prepared with their farm business financials for the year ahead.

We try to make programs accessible through both online and in-person events, and while online is often best for time-poor farmers, in-person events are still important.

A large part of our extension offering includes workshops and webinars, providing more flexible interactions to support farmers.

I encourage farmers who are looking for support in managing their farm business to reach out to their regional team.

Further information – including access to business planning, financial analysis and risk management tools – can be found at dairyaustralia.com.au/farm-business.