Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) brought its annual update to Gunnedah on Thursday, with a strong numbers in attendance.
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The audience of 75 heard from six presenters on topics such as communication, business management strategies, decision-making, the impact of technology, and finances.
Neville Brady from Bunch Consulting was a popular presenter, engaging the audience with games, humour and real life examples as he addressed mental health.
Mr Brady emphasised the importance of listening and reminded the audience members to be aware of how tone of voice, body language and facial expressions could impact those around them. He also said it was important to be able to see the lighter side of situation and used the catchphrase, “eyebrows up” throughout his presentation.
Gunnedah’s George Truman and Dale Kirby went along on behalf of North West Local Land Services, and found it to be beneficial.
“The update is a great opportunity for local producers to hear from farm business specialists and to network among a variety of people ranging from local landholders, farm business advisers, agronomists and advisers,” Mr Truman said.
Some of the highlights were the emphasis on ensuring people have a good understanding of their soils and available soil water prior to planning. This is one of the key profit drivers along with crop selection, frequency and rotation, yield, and price and quality.”
“There was some good data presented from farms across North West NSW and South East Queensland, showing profit, yield, overhead costs and costs of production,” he said.
“The key message for good crop profits can be attributed to – what crop you grow, optimising soil moisture, risk management, good crop agronomy, operations and finance and cost management.”
The GRDC updates have been taking place around Australia and are being facilitated by ORM Pty. Ltd Agricultural Consulting and Communication Services.
ORM’s Phil O’Callaghan said the events were “focusing on enduring profitability for grain growers”.
“It’s a focus of GRDC to address business management as part of its service to grain growers in addition to its normal research and technical roles,” he said.
“It’s addressing all those business management issues.
“It’s those things that are important to their business but not always talked about.”