AUTHOR

Image of Marie Van Blommestein, Director at RSM Katanning. Marie specialises in tax compliance, business advice, and business advisory services, leveraging her experience in public accounting and farming. She supports businesses in regional WA from inception to growth stages, with a focus on accounting principles and taxation policies.
Marie Van Blommestein
Director

Farmers and farming businesses deal with a significant amount of uncertainty every day, and the impact of farm financial risk can be astronomical. Farmers and farming businesses deal with a significant amount of uncertainty every day and the impact of farm financial risk can be astronomical. 

Farmers are sometimes forced to make business decisions based on unknown and incomplete information.

Continuously having to speculate about the weather, the volatility of market prices, rises in input costs, and the direction of interest rates, farmers are forced to make uninformed decisions that can potentially result in losses and adverse outcomes, otherwise known as risk.

Financial risk can prevent the business from repaying loan obligations and funding operational activities. 

Farmers and businesses can never eliminate risk but only manage to minimise its impact.

Some of the risk mitigation strategies could include: 

1. KNOW WHERE YOU STAND

Ensure that you have a good understanding of your current business financial position. 

2. KEEP IT DIGITAL Minimise the impact of farm financial risk with digital accounting apps.

Use digital accounting and record-keeping programmes that access live data for real-time decision-making.

Keeping updated and reliable financial data and budgets will enable you to identify and respond to unexpected events, preventing significant deficits in cash flow.  

3. CONSULT YOUR ADVISORS

Consult with your advisors and banks and review your current farm lending and debt structure.

Seek cheaper or alternative finance options to reduce the interest cost and lock in interest rates on core debt to eliminate the risks and costs of rising interest rates. 

4. LOAN REPAYMENTS

Review and change, if necessary, the timing of loan repayments to suit your cash flow. Pay down expensive unsecured short-term debt with higher interest costs first. 

Review your farm marketing strategy as a risk management strategy

5. MARKETING & SALES

Review your farm marketing strategy and obtain independent market info and advice to ensure that you are forward selling and selling your products at a favourable time.

6. INSURANCE

Turn to Insurance policies and ensure that your business and productions for the year are insured appropriately.

This can protect your business and assets against adverse situations caused by catastrophic weather events, hail, devastating fires, and accidents. 

7. CASH IS KING Maintaining liquid and credit reserves can also protect you against financial risk.

Create and maintain a cash reserve fund.

Maintaining liquid and credit reserves can also protect you against financial risk's adverse effects.

If needed, a liquid stash of cash or other liquid assets can be easily used to weather financial difficulty.

8. PROFIT 

Look to improve profit margin in crop and livestock productions and lock in cash expenses and market prices where you can and when those margins exist.

9. MACHINERYThere are large financial risks associated with owning machinery.

Be cautious of over-investing in expensive new machinery and consider buying second-hand or leasing.

This can reduce the financial risks associated with large finance loans and owner-related costs.

It is helpful to analyse and compare cost and risk in owning versus renting before deciding whether to buy or lease.

10. DIVERSIFYDiversify income streams to minimise the impact of farm financial risk.

Diversify the income streams by offering contracting work with farms' machinery and labour.

Consider a spouse or family member to earn income streams by working off-farm. 

Contact Us

Your local RSM office can assist you with minimising the impact of farm financial risk. Contact the team today!

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