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Farmanco Facts – July 2021

The July edition of Farmanco Facts sees Alice Butler and Blake O'Meagher introduce you to Precision Ag and Data Management.

Stacey Bell and Keith Symondson explore what low carbon economies mean for agriculture.


Eric Nankivell writes about productivity gains in agriculture while Don McTaggart talks about WA Wheat basis trends.


Greg Easton discusses analysing your data patterns to help you make better business decisions and improve profitability – using the example of lupin and canola.


Trish Nankivell's article on mental health (previous provided on our website) is included in this month. See the HEAD PDF provided below to put up in your staffroom or office.


Key Points include:


Precision Ag – data management introduction

(Alice Butler & Blake O'Meagher – Precision Ag Consultants)

  • Introduction to Data Management

  • How managing your data now can help set up your business in the long-term

  • Farmanco Data Management services and benefits

  • Hands on Precision Ag Training: Stage 2 workshops in August


Low Carbon Economies – what does it mean for Ag

(Stacey Bell, Management Consultant & Keith Symondson, CEO)

  • The world is moving to lower carbon economies

  • There is pressure on larger companies to reduce emissions

  • They will pass this pressure on to their customers

  • There are opportunities for agricultural businesses to profit in this environment

  • You need to be able to measure where you are before you can see where you need to go


Productivity Gains in Ag

(Eric Nankivell, Management Consultant)

  • Productivity is growing at about 5% pa in well run businesses

  • Yield improvements continue at about 1%

  • We are getting better at converting water to grain yield

  • Price improvement is an important driver of profit at around 3.8%

  • Gross margin is a good overall measure of productivity


WA Wheat Basis Trends

(Don McTaggart, Grain Marketing Consultant)

  • Season 2020/21 saw a large export program and relatively low wheat basis

  • The total Australian export task is a large determining factor for WA basis

  • A return to average exports should result in a more average basis for WA wheat


Lupins & Canola

(Greg Easton, Management Consultant)

  • At a glance, your data can appear to have misleading trends

  • When you look closer and interpret your data, patterns can emerge that you didn’t notice at first

  • Analysing your data can help you make better business decisions and improve your profitability


Mental Health First Aid

(Trish Nankivell, Admin Support)

  • Most farm business have made provision for qualified first aiders in the workplace

  • However, there is less knowledge on how to deal with mental health crises

  • Mental Health crises can have as much or even more of an impact on your business than an incident that requires traditional first aid

  • St John Ambulance offers a Mental Health First Aid Course

  • The focus is on helping the person deal with the crisis, in the first instance and focuses on listening


Each year, the Farmanco agronomy team work to produce the Pesticide Handbook (Pestbook™). The Pestbook™ is regarded as the best independent guide to weed, insect and disease control in Australia.


The Pestbook™ has different versions that give recommendations for pest control in major crops across four states: Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. The recommendations in the book are based on years of original research by our team of independent agronomists, as well as client experience of what actually works.


Now available on Apple devices, iPestbook is derived from the database used to create the annual Farmanco Pestbook and is updated with feedback from our own agronomists as well as external agronomists throughout the year - so is always up-to-date. Visit the iPestbook product website for more information.

Shop to view and purchase any of our products, including subscribing to Farmanco Facts.

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