BROADACRE farmers in the Mallee would be ill-advised to rely on one good year to
turn around their debt situation, according to the first results of a new
benchmarking project.
Six years worth of financial data from 110 farm
enterprises across the Mallee — covering more than 825,000 acres of farm land
— was collated for the Mallee Benchmarks Results program, a free service
launched by Pooles Accountants on Wednesday.
More than 70 farmers attended
the launch, which outlined a set of trends based on collated data from 2007 to
2012.
Each farmer involved in the project was presented with their own
personal reports and review of trends across the region.
Trends show that
while local farmers have been able to record profits in the last three years,
the average level of debt is increasing.
For more on this story, see this Friday’s edition of The Guardian (12/04/13).
