Working hard in Proserpine

Next on the list was Proserpine. They had been cut off a couple of days before but we were lucky enough to get through.

We did the morning session in Proserpine then went to Ayr.

The concerns and questions areslightly different in each region.

The weather patterns are different and that changes things.

Even though succession is really important, right now many farmers are also dealing with more immediate issues. What is going on with the local mills? How are we going to get our crops harvested?

My advice is always to focus on what you can control and do your best to get that sorted. You can’t control the weather. You can’t control government regulation.What you can control is the fact that you can insure against income/ partner lose and methods of evaluation.

We are trying to give farmers the control back that they feel like they are losing by helping them develop a strategic financial plan that will help carry them through.

Next stop - Mackay

We had a very successful talk in In Mackay at the  Canegrowers office in Mackay.

A lot of the questions and conversations were around the implications of Sucrogen who have been buying a lot of sugar mills which is having an impact on sugar prices. Farmers are a bit worried about the future. A lot of the sugar mills are up to 80 years old and it feels like times are changing.

Other issues have centred around the weather. There have also been lots of flooding which has been hard for harvesting. The erratic nature of the weather is becoming more clear.

I also met with a law firm in Mckays Law. Mark McGraw sits on the regional development council.

He was saying a lot of the cane farms have Develop Approvals on them. But a lot of them can’t go ahead because of political issues.

There also appears to be a significant resource shortage on its way. It seems the town will  only have the capacity to house 10 – 17% of the workers required for the mines.

For investors and farmers alike, this has quite a lot of implications and needs to be watched carefully

Our Amazing Farmers

Here’s Darin Hindmarsh identifying issues that farmers face and how they can be resolved.

Rodney Page our Senior Financial Planner discussing why succession planning is so important for farmers

Here’s Rodney explaining succession planning and how it can work for farmers

The trip begins

As part of our commitment to helping ensure that farmers have a well developed succession plan Rodney Page and I are heading off on a road trip to visit farmers and explain why succession planning is such an important issue.

It wasn’t a glamourous start.

I left Brisbane at 4 in the morning driving through pouring rain.

At 4.00am the Qld Government website told me the Bruce Highway was flooded  but by 5.00 the highway signs were saying  it was open again! Too late to turn back so we pushed on through Gympie.

Our first seminar was at 8.30 am to about 10 farm groups. We quickly identified some issues that needed work and Rodney is coming back to spend 3 days there on his way back.

The next seminar for the day was  at 1.00 in Bundaberg so I hightailed it throught  Childers to Bundaberg and did the seminar to about 4 or 5 farmers. All of those people wanted a visit from Rod so they are all booked in.

Wednesday, was Childers and we had more than 20 people at that seminar – all identifying issues that needed to be addressed.