Merrilong Pastoral Company Changing the Family Farm and Planning for Success

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Merrilong Pastoral Company Changing the Family
Farm and Planning for Success

• David Brownhill Grain farmer NSW Australia
• Director Crop Optics Pty Ltd
• Nuffield Scholar

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Intoduction

• Merrilong Pastoral Company
• 4735 hectares on the Liverpool Plains
• North West NSW
• The business is operated with my brother and his
  family
• Merrilong Pastoral company aims to be profitable
  whilst enhancing its environment

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Merrilong Pastoral Company

• Started in 1959
• Originally sheep, fat lambs and cattle
• Cropping began in earnest in the late 60s
• Summer cropping began in 1970s
• No tillage first adopted in 1980s
• Full no till system mid 1990s
• Controlled traffic farming system 2003

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Merrilong Pastoral Company

• Issues in the Farming System
• Erosion
• Hard to kill weeds
• Glyphosate resistant Rye Grass
• Reliance on herbicides
• Crop disease
• Heavy residue to plant into
• High input farming system - nutrition

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Merrilong Pastoral CompanyIssues in the business

• Staff management
• Weather
• Business planning
• Finding the next opportunity
• Growing the business
• Planning for the next generation
• Volatility and Risk

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Merrilong Pastoral Company

• Crops grown include bread wheat, durum wheat,
  faba beans, barley, sorghum, maize, feed corn,
  summer legumes and seed crops
• 3100 hectares of dryland farming land
• 900 hectares of irrigation ( pivot and flood)
• Grain Storage capacity of 12000 tonnes on farm
• Yields range from 0 to 10 tonnes per ha

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Merrilong Pastoral Company

• 1980s strict rotation 2 crops in 3 years
• 1990s changed to 4 crops in 5 years
• 2000s opportunity cropping began
• Farming moisture is the key to Yield
• Yield is the key to profit
• Profit enables growth and sustainability
• The only constant is change

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Merrilong Pastoral Company

• The Fundamentals of the business
• Soil Health
• Moisture
• Stubble retention, erosion minimisation
• People and Family
• Profit and Passion
• Enjoy it

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Planting into Sorghum stubble
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Controlled traffic minimising compaction
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All crops are planted inter row barley into
sorghum stubble
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Faba beans into corn stubble
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Sorghum at mid flowering
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Merrilong Pastoral CompanyPlanning Some
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• External directors
• Board meetings
• Clear direction Strategic planning
• Staff training and involvement
• Technology and adoption
• Weedseeker and Greenseeker

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Separating the Family from the Business

• Family Structure Company
• Two families
• We did look at splitting business
• It just didnt make sense or cents
• What do we do now
• Employed a consultant to understand individual
  concerns and objectives

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Separating the Family from the Business

• Clarified goals
• Set up a Board Structure
• Independent Chairman
• Board Structure, 2 external non executive
  directors and 2 executive directors
• Met every 2 months for the first year
• April 1st 2005 first meeting

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Separating the Family from the Business

• Debt restructure
• Dividend Policy
• Commercial rents
• Roles and responsibilities
• Staff training and job descriptions
• Financial reporting
• Key business relationships

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Separating the Family from the Business

• Removed the emotion from discussions
• Partners are invited to meetings that effect them
• Board papers are distributed to all Family
  members
• Protocols for topics to be brought up at meetings

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Debt Restructure

• Allocated Assets to security- not just lumped as
  one
• Understood how the bank structured loans for best
  pricing
• Individuals allocated assets to borrow against
  thus can make own investment decisions
• Independence in a Family business

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Staff Training

• Monday morning meetings All staff
• Meet again Thursday to check progress
• All tasks listed on whiteboards in lunchroom
• Myers Briggs
• Communication workshop
• Social activities

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Opportunity for agriculture

• Food is essential
• Agriculture is a good business
• We need to promote it for what it is
• Chuck the terms of trade chart in the tip
• Focus on the positives
• Get the perception right

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Total Return
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Innovation

• Planning a business has many angles
• Technology has had huge advances
• Horse, to steel wheels, sound guard cabs to Auto
  steer and tractors with televisions
• Adopting innovation to change the bottom line

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Weedseeker

• Weedseekers imported in May 2002
• Farm Innovation Program grant helped with funding
  ( 77 500.00 )
• Fallow management between crops is essential
• Single spot spray line
• Only 17 of our fallows have weeds growing on
  them

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Weedseeker

• We were still spraying 100 of the paddock
• Weedseekers are designed to spray only green
  plants
• 15 inch nozzle spacing
• Work day or night
• 12 volt powered
• Simple to operate

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Weedseeker

• Operating speed ranges from 10 to 25 kmh
• Operating height is 26 to 30 inches ( 700 to 750
  mm )
• It is a tool, not the complete system
• Water rates of 100 litres per ha
• Average use is approximately 20

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Weedseeker

• Why ?
• Reduce herbicide usage
• Save Money
• Right herbicide for hard to kill weeds
• Environmental benefits
• Protect the life of glyphosate
• Combat herbicide resistence

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Selective Spraying in action
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MerrilongWeedseeker Total Savings
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Maybe this guy needed one for Mr Rudd
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Conclusion

• Opportunities are there, you just have to look
  for them
• You need to like what you do
• You can embrace change or fight it
• You need to be flexible
• Adopt innovation wisely
• Promote our industry for what it is

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Thankyou
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Whats motivating us
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Merrilong Pastoral Company

• Where to now
• Professional approach
• Innovative
• Grow the Asset base
• Continue Planning for the Future
• Develop the business

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