Better Business, stronger farming futures

Key messages

• Farm businesses increasingly need people with skills in financial management, administration, people management and digital systems, alongside production. 

• Riverine Plains’ Better Business Program is delivering practical training to support local farming businesses build skills that can strengthen their long-term resilience and profitability. 

• Making small improvements in administration, improving record keeping and strengthening cash flow and budgeting, can support businesses to work more efficiently and improve decision making.

Running a successful farming business takes more than strong production knowledge. Modern farming businesses are navigating rising input costs, workforce management, compliance, digital systems, succession planning, and increasingly complex financial decisions all while managing day-to-day farming operations.

For many farming businesses, finding the time to step back and review systems can be challenging. That’s where the Riverine Plains Better Business Program comes in. 

Designed to strengthen the long-term resilience and profitability of farming businesses, the program focuses on building practical business skills for farmers, farm managers, and rural business operators.

While larger corporate businesses often have access to internal training and professional development opportunities, many family-run farming enterprises simply don’t have the same resources or time available. The Better Business Program aims to bridge that gap by delivering relevant, locally focused training opportunities that directly address the needs of farming communities.

Better Business topics span financial management, governance, administration, communication, farm safety, people management and digital systems. Our upcoming series of workshops will focus on practical ways farming businesses can strengthen their ‘behind the scenes’ systems, from streamlining office administration and record keeping to improving cash flow and budgeting. 

• Tuesday 13 October, Nagambie: Office efficiency workshop
• Wednesday 14 October, Yarrawonga: Cash flow & budgeting
• Thursday 15 October, Wodonga: Office efficiency workshop
• Tuesday 20 October, Dookie: Records to Readiness: Business compliance & record keeping

Delivered by Carmen Quade from AgriFocused, the Office Efficiency workshops will cover practical strategies for managing paperwork, emails, bills, quotes and invoices, as well as paperless office options. The Cash flow & budgeting workshop will also explore forecasting income and expenses, budgeting software, managing costs and preparing for different financial scenarios. 

Compliance and record keeping are business-critical areas that can often seem overwhelming. To break this down, Josh Ingham, from Ingham & Co, will run a workshop covering information that may be requested during an audit or compliance review. He’ll identify common gaps and how paper and digital systems can make records easier to capture, manage and retrieve, which is especially important with chemical, machinery, workers and contractor records. 

The aim isn’t to create more work; it’s to find simpler ways of managing the work that already needs to be done. 

Good record keeping, strong communication, and informed financial management are increasingly critical to sustainable farming businesses and small improvements, whether in administration, financial literacy, staff management or communication can have a significant impact on profitability and resilience over time.  
This focus on people and business capability has been a consistent theme across Riverine Plains initiatives over many years. The upcoming workshops are an opportunity to step away from the day-to-day, learn practical strategies and take away ideas that can be applied directly to the farm business. Whether it’s finding a better way to manage the farm office or gaining greater confidence in cash flow planning, small improvements to business systems can make a meaningful difference over time. 

Acknowledgement

This program is delivering training programs and resources to increase farm business resilience. 

The 2026 Better Business workshops are being delivered through the Capacity Building to Improve social outcomes of rural communities during dry times project, supported by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) through funding from the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund.