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Comparing Dairy Farms For Profitability

Victorian dairy farmers will soon be able to compare how well their farms are performing physically and financially from survey data being collected through the

By Department of Primary Industries - 19th January 2007 - Back to News

Department of Primary Industries’ (DPI) Dairy Industry Farm Monitor project.

DPI Senior Farm Business Analyst, Joe Gaffy says that benchmarking is a valuable tool that enables comparative analysis of farm productivity and profitability from individual, regional and statewide perspectives.

"Identifying the relative performance of a dairy farm can help stimulate farm managers’ thinking about their production system and the profitability of various strategies for improvements or changes," said Mr Gaffy.

"The idea behind this project is based on the successful south west Victorian Farm Monitor project that has collected and analysed similar data for over 35 years."

Through comparative analysis the south west Farm Monitor project is able to:

• Monitor trends in farm productivity and profitability;
• Provide benchmarks for grazing farms in south west Victoria;
• Provide data to evaluate differences between top performers and other farms; and
• Provide feedback to participants.

In south west Victoria, the project is highly regarded by farmers and agribusiness professionals as a reliable source of information about farm business performance.

DPI identified the benefit of producing such a data set for Victoria’s animal industries and together with Australian Wool Innovation undertook the Wool Industry Farm Monitor Project, which produced its first report at the end of the 2004/2005 season.

This project model is now being extended to the Victorian dairy industry and is being co-funded by DPI and Dairy Australia.

"For the next three years, the project will engage contractors to collect specific data from 25 dairy farm businesses across Victoria’s main dairying regions," said Mr Gaffy.

"Farmers that take part in the survey will receive a detailed individual analysis of their farms’ physical and financial performance over the next three years."

"They will also be able to compare their business performance with other farms in their region and across the State."

The primary advantages of the Dairy Industry Farm Monitor Project will be in the timeliness of the reporting of results and the data quality.

Data will be collected in May and June, and the results will be released in a report by mid July of each year.

For more information, please contact Joe Gaffy, DPI Box Hill on 9296 4748.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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