Business skills a must for farmers
Promising outlook makes business skills a must for farmers
Rabobank is expecting continued strong interest in its Executive Development Program (EDP) for primary producers this year, as farmers prepare to take advantage of the favourable market conditions being seen in 2008.
Rabobank's head of rural banking for New Zealand and Australia, Neil Dobbin said that in the competitive and volatile global environment that producers operate in, high-level management skills to drive continuous business evolution are a necessity.
"Rabobank believes that New Zealand and Australian producers are strategically well placed to meet global food demand, which is currently well in excess of supply. The EDP is a forum for our farm leaders to prepare for the opportunities that this promising time for agriculture holds," Mr Dobbin said.
The EDP, a business management program designed to further enhance the skills of Australasia's leading agricultural producers, is about making good long term decisions for your business, Mr Dobbin said.
Good managers are still searching to improve their skills and to mix with like-minded people, he added. "The fact that they seek out these development opportunities is what makes them successful."
Heath Wilkins, managing director and partner of Birdhurst Ltd, a family horticulture unit situated in Motueka, New Zealand, was one 36 leading primary producers from around New Zealand and Australia who graduated from the EDP in 2007.
Mr Wilkins says that the course provided him with the first step towards formal training that is often overlooked in family businesses. He says that the EDP took him out of his comfort zone, allowed him to benchmark his business amongst his peers, network, share ideas and realise new opportunities.
"The course really reiterated that we were on the right track, having changed the direction of our business about a year before doing the course from focusing on commodities to trying to get out of that trap and become a niche player.
"A key take-away was that when strategising, you need to look five to seven years ahead. Rather than spending all your time and energy getting through the day to day, you need to look forward to how your business will operate in an increasingly challenging and competitive environment," Mr Wilkins said.
When Mr Wilkins began the EDP, he said the philosophy of his company had been 'do more and you will make more', however Mr Wilkins says the course made him realise that they were stretching themselves too thin.
"We now focus on doing what will take us into the future, rather than taking too much on and substituting volume for quality. We strive for a premium product rather than just a commodity line that importers could get more cheaply else where - we are now working hard towards offering something unique and we are achieving this by slowing down, taking a breath, re-strategizing and moving away from parts of the business that won't be around in five years time," Mr Wilkins said.
