This year marks the 10th year of Rabobank’s Farm Managers Program, with more than 300 young farmers from across Australia and New Zealand graduating from the program since its inception in 2006.
Applications are now open the Farm Managers Program in 2015, which will be held near Melbourne in June.
Rabobank group executive for Country Banking Australia Peter Knoblanche said the Farm Managers Program provided a unique opportunity for young farmers looking to take over the reins of the family property or manage a commercial farming entity to share best practice and discuss ideas.
“And we see those relationships continue well after the program has finished, with participants often drawing on their network of like-minded farmers,” Mr Knoblanche said.
Designed to strengthen the operational and strategic skills of emerging farmers, the Farm Managers Program is modelled on Rabobank’s Executive Development Program, a long-standing business development course for leading Australian and New Zealand farmers.
The program covers topics including global trends in agriculture, business planning, financial management, leadership and succession planning.
Mr Knoblanche said farmers wanting to take their farm business to the next level should consider completing the program.
“Not only will the program focus on tools and strategies to help manage your business, it will also look at ways to effectively manage others but most importantly, how to manage yourself,” he said.
“Because most of us spend so much time and energy looking after our stock, land and machinery we often forget to look after ourselves, and this can have negative impacts on our business.”
Mr Knoblanche said it was for that reason Rabobank had recently incorporated a new topic focussing on physical and mental wellbeing.
This focus resonated with 2014 graduate, Desiree Ryan who said it “emphasised the importance of looking after yourself by striving for balance”, which she said could be difficult as she also works off-farm as an accountant.
Ms Ryan, who runs a dairy operation in partnership with her husband Michael near Allansford in south-western Victoria, said their milk processor, Bega Cheese sponsored her position on the program, as part of their charter to support young farmers.
The Ryans said changing from a share farming arrangement to leasing a 340-acre dairy farm had been challenging.
Ms Ryan said one of the key learnings from the Farm Managers Program that had helped with managing the business was the change in mindset from working ‘in the business’ to working ‘on the business’.
“It can be easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day running of the business, but we are now more focussed on our long-term plan and how we are going to get there,” she said.
Mrs Ryan said the program helped formulate the couple’s long-term plan.
“Central to our plan is our aim to increase production by 15-to-20 per cent per cow.”
Since completing the program, the Ryans have used their business plan as the basis for a funding application to increase their productivity through installing an irrigation system.
“The course gave us not only the tools to pull together the funding application but also the confidence to present it to the board of the funding body,” Ms Ryan said.
“And in being successful with our application we have already set-up an irrigation system which will see us operate a summer cropping program for fodder.”
The Ryans also plan to improve the herd size and its genetic merits.
Applications for the 2015 Rabobank Farm Managers Program are open until April 27 and interested parties are encouraged to apply soon as places are limited to 36.
The program will be held at the Grange Cleveland Winery, Lancefield, from Monday 15 to Friday 19 June, 2015.
Producers interested in an application form or any further information on the Rabobank Farm Managers Program should visit www.rabobank.com.au/bmp or contact Rabobank business programs manager Nerida Sweetapple on 02 8115 4139 or nerida.sweetapple@rabobank.com.
