Unlocking the benefits of farm advisory boards.

Enhance Your Farm’s Success with Advisory Boards 

The governance of family farms is more challenging than ever due to:

• The scale and complexity of the average family farm has grown significantly over time, with greater turnover, more employees to manage and increased capital expenditure.
• There is an Increased focus on compliance with WHS and HR legislation 
• There are alternate land use options such as carbon farming or renewable energy projects to assess.
• The jump in farmland values is making the succession planning process increasingly difficult as the gap between farm and off-farm investments increases dramatically

A farm advisory board is one way of developing a strategic framework to help members of a family farm deal with issues and make informed decisions. 

What are they?

An informal board usually consists of family members plus two to three external professional advisers who can assist the family with strategic planning and decision-making. The board, in effect, increases the circle of trusted advisers available to the farming family.

The external board members often have expertise in accounting, finance, farm consulting or agronomy, which complements the skill sets of members of the farming family.

The board typically meets two to three times a year, and meetings often coincide with significant planning opportunities, such as a budget or tax planning review. 

What are they not?

Farm advisory boards do not make decisions; the family farming enterprise members do. External professionals assist the family in making informed decisions.

Benefits of a Farm Advisory Board

The main advantage of setting up an advisory board is the opportunity to bring in external professional advisers with knowledge that complements the business. External advisers can often be used to identify skill gaps and provide suggestions for improving processes without offending. Having external advisers attend regular meetings (with a documented agenda) will also improve family members' accountability in addressing identified issues or justifying decisions made. 

Another benefit of having a farm advisory board is that it can help family members (even off-farm family members) feel more involved in the farm decision-making process. It can be a great way to share the management load with family members, playing to their strengths. For example, the younger generation might take on a project such as making sure the farm can demonstrate that it is compliant from a WHS perspective. 

Farm Advisory Boards can also assist farming families in prioritising issues. For example, promoting a proactive rather than reactive approach to decision-making might result in farm succession planning being identified as important to address sooner rather than later.

How to set up a Farm Advisory Board

Reaching out to your trusted business adviser is often the first step, as they will usually have insights into your business that can assist in composing your initial board.

If you want to learn more about farm advisory boards and how they can benefit you, please get in touch with your local RSM adviser today. 

This article was first published on ACM Farm Weekly.