vegNET: Regional Extension Officers

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Focus: Manage all legal issues related to operating the business

Considerations:

• What are my legal requirements?
• What is my legal exposure/risk?
• What are my insurance requirements

Typical Activities:

• Select a legal supporting service
• Select insurance agent and policy
• Deal with legal services

Focus: Effectively manage the IT infrastructure to Support the business execution

Considerations:

• What technology does the business require?
• What new tech is out there that can deliver efficiencies and cost savings?
• Networking requirements

Typical Activities:

• Maintain technology
• Visit Trade shows
• Ensure technology support

Focus: Effectively manage the finances of the business

Considerations:

• What QA system is required for the market I want to supply?
• What are my compliance requirements? (e.g. Freshcare, SEDEX, etc.)

Typical Activities:

• Maintain QA records & Certification
• QA Audits
• Employment Compliance
• Water compliance

Focus: Effectively manage the finances of the business

Considerations:

• Do I know my true costs of production?
• Set budgets?
• Tax Optimisation?
• What are the key financial performance measures?
• Financial Accountability within the business – who can spend what?

Typical Activities:

• Set budgets
• Financial analysis – inputs, use,
• Benchmark
• Tax returns
• Bookkeeping
• Accounting
• Payment management

Focus: Cost effective purchasing of all key inputs

Considerations:

• Inventory of all inputs – monthly, seasonally, annually
• How do you make your purchasing decisions?
• Stay with one provider or ‘shop around’/ mini tender?
• Bulk purchase or Just in time?

Typical Activities:

• Order key inputs – chemicals, fert, seed,
• Tender process
• Fixed costs items
• Review costs periodically

Focus: Effectively and efficiently maintain machinery to execute to maintain production

Considerations:

• Lease or own?
• When do I service? Service Plan
• Who is managing repairs?
• Onsite or off-site maintenance?
• What spare pairs should I carry?
• All associated costs

Typical Activities:

• Machinery maintenance
• Calibration
• Staff training

Focus: Effectively and efficiently manage people to execute the business

Considerations:

• How many people do I really need? Cost Projection?
• Direct contract v labour hire v Seasonal worker program?
• Seasonal demand?
• Do I pay myself or take drawings?
• What skills do I need in employees?
• Training requirements?
• Selection criteria?
• How do I retain staff?
• How can I review the effectiveness of employee deployment?

Focus: Sell Crop

Considerations:

• What are your sales channels and the costs involved in each?
• How do you manage credit risk?

Typical Activities:

• Negotiate price
• Liaise with selling agent

Focus: Transportation of the crop to end market

Considerations:

• What’s the best way to get your produce to market?
• Can you justify/cost analysis of owning and running your own truck(s)?

Typical Activities:

• Identify carrier / transport company
• Transport to market
• Sales inventory – consignment notice

Focus: Marketing the crop for sale

Considerations:

• What are the market options for your crop? (retail, wholesale market, direct to customer, processor, export)
• What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?
• How do you promote your produce and brand?
• Who is my competition and what scale are they growing to?
• Gauge and investigate demand for product? And seasonal fluctuation across state?

Typical Activities:

• Identify market opportunities
• Promote produce
• Market development

Focus: Process the crops for the purpose sales

Considerations:

• How much cost/value am I adding to the product?
• What QA/food safety accreditation do I need for processing?
• Should I process myself or can someone else do it for a similar cost
• What format should I sell in? (loose, prepack, ready to eat, value added)

Typical Activities:

• Process crops, or send to pack house

Focus: Assist the Crop to Grow

Considerations:

• Fertilizer application – fertigation, foliar spray, granular application
• Chemical application
• Pest and disease pressure on crop

Typical Activities:

• Check crops
• Maintain Chemical and Fert Records for Financial Mgt and QA purposes
• Agronomy nutritional requirements
• Pest and disease chemical resistance

Focus: Harvest the Crop

Considerations:

• Labour required
• Machinery / equipment required
• Packaging required
• Post-harvest chemical application
• Post-harvest storage

Typical Activities:

• Harvest
• Equipment registry
• Maintain labour records

Focus: Plant the crop

Considerations:

• Straight seeding or seedling transplant
• Variety choice
• Post-plant nutrition

Typical Activities:

• Planting
• Maintaining crop and input records
• Crop assessment
• Nutritional requirements

Focus: Ground preparation ahead of planting

Considerations:

• Weed management
• Pre-plant inputs
• Soil health inputs
• Nutritional inputs

Typical Activities:

• Ploughing and general ground prep
• Agronomy assistance

Focus: Growing plan for the year ahead that also includes the growing process that repeatedly delivers to quality

Considerations:

• Supply / Demand Analysis
• Crop yield/ demand / profitability analysis
• Just because you can grow it, should you?
• Crop / climate suitability
• Crop and variety selection
• Water access / suitability
• Irrigation system suitability
• Soil health and carbon content

Typical Activities:

• Previous year analysis
• Consumer demand research
• Market research
• Agronomy assessment
• Hydrology assessment
• Soil assessment

Focus: Manage the capital investment assets to provide the best returns to increase business wealth

Considerations:

• Have I invested soundly?
• Am I generating the greatest returns for my capital investment?
• Have I increased my business wealth over time?
• How do I plan for my business growing (ie more land, bigger machines, more processing capacity)

Typical Activities:

• Land Acquisition
• Land Improvement
• Capital asset purchase (e.g. tractor, etc)
• Capital asset disposal/replacement
• Off farm investment
• Plan requirements for expansion – growing and processing plant, equipment and land

Focus: Set a clearly defined strategy and plan for the purpose of the business over the 3-, 5- & 10-year time horizon

Considerations:

• What is the way of life that business needs to support?
• What is the purpose of my farm business?
• What’s the long-term plan for the farm?
• Who will inherit the farm, if something happens?
• How do we intend to achieve?
• What type of finance/capital model business do we want to be?

Typical Activities:

• Set up most effective business structure (family trust, company etc.)
• Identify scale of production required to meet financial goals
• Identify crop opportunity or niche (why do you decide to grow what you do and which method do you use – conventional, organic, protected cropping etc.)
• Understand cost of operation and production
• Put legal succession plan in place

Focus: Manage communications with external stakeholders that may impact the business

Considerations:

• Who are all the external bodies that can impact my business, its operation and its performance?

Typical Activities:

• Industry bodies: vegetablesWA, Ausveg
• Local Government
• Shire Council
• Department of Water
• Fellow growers

Focus: Actively manage the land and water to support the business’s longer-term plan

Considerations:

• What land and water management issues and risks that could impact my business?
• What is the value of managing the land, water and biosecurity impacts of my business? – short term and long-term basis
• Are there any grants/assistance in place?

Typical Activities:

• Cost/benefit analysis of land, water and biosecurity risks
• Soil testing
• Water testing
• Agronomy assessments
• Soil health inputs
• Sustainability plan – longer term land, water plan and biodiversity

Focus: Actively manage the reputation of the business and any risks to this

Considerations:

• What is my brand and how do I protect it?
• Do I need more than one brand (ie for export markets)?
• What are the business and reputational risks that I am exposed to?
• What would happen if an event damaged my reputation? (ie food safety, employment scandal etc.)
• What industry or community activities could I undertake to promote or support the reputation of my business (sponsorship, school or community engagement etc.)
• Are you known as a good employer?
• Social licence
• Leverage any ‘doing the right thing’ ness
• Community engagement

Typical Activities:

• Develop risk register
• Create brand or brands
• Choose appropriate business structure and ownership of business to protect from potential business risks
• Code of conduct