AGRICULTURAL
Evaluate every facet of the farming
operations.
Analyse business and financial risks
Optimise production factors (land,
capital, labour, negotiation skills) -
diagnostic farming analysis.
Do not try to take production shortcuts.
Decrease the costs per unit by
considering alternative systems.
Debt consolidation on merit.
Sell surplus capital items where
economically justifiable.
No new capital expenditure if surplus
money is not available.
Plant grain on best lands, which limits
risk.
Become a better price manager.
(Avoid fixed price contracts where
delivery is compulsory in drought
years, when a crop is not a certainty).
Which factors have an impact on
margins which are acceptable for
sustainable production?
Production/yield in t/ha or kg meat/ha,
which is mostly linked to climate, over
which you have no control.
The question can be asked as to
whether the resource is still adequate
to realise the required margin in the
current climate conditions.
Have rainfall patterns changed and is
it the reason that the farming practices
and/or enterprises of my grandparents
are no longer profitable?
Does a shorter planting period
require a higher capital investment in
machinery and equipment?
Input cost increases.
Commodity prices
Cost squeeze
Are farming operations geared for
precision practices in order to use the
changing production environment as
an advantage
SENWES SCENARIO | MIND-SHIFT 2019
19