Dairy farmers work in a dynamic environment. Production, milk prices, finances, climate, and reporting can all add pressure but there are ways to mitigate the stress.
Fonterra’s connection with agricultural financial software solutions firm Figured is one way the Co-op is helping ease the load on farmers.
Each month Farm Source updates farmers’ monthly milk production and this information can be pulled directly into the Figured software – providing farmers with real time information about their production and financial information.
New Zealand farmers and accountants Carl McDonald and David Marshall founded Figured in 2013 to streamline accounting on-farm. It is now used by more than 30,000 farmers and financial advisors around the world.
Sarah Dobson from Figured says farming has become more complex and it’s no longer reasonable for farmers to manage everything on their own.
“Traditionally, there has been an expectation for farmers to manage things themselves and if there’s a problem they should be able to fix it. Farming is now a complex operation and farmers don’t have the capacity or financial flexibility to make changes quickly. It is crucial to have a team behind you,” she says.
“Accountants bring expertise, objectivity, and strategic insights to the table. With finances, they’ll make sure you’re more profitable and plan further into the future. When it comes to meeting environmental standards, they’ll show you how to achieve them within your financial constraints with decision support tools, data and insights and advisory support including access to capital.
“The reporting requirements by financial institutions can be overwhelming, particularly when you’re used to being out on the farm not in front of a computer. The key to better financial and performance management is to use the right tools, get advice, and share the load. Figured was built to create alignment across the whole farming area and put the farmer at the core of the process.”
With automated data collection through Xero, MYOB and Fonterra, Figured brings reporting for financial production and environmental data into one place.
This integration means the whole farming team including owners, managers, accountants, and financial institutions have information at their disposal about the farm’s performance. Figured also provides insights using anonymised data to allow farmers to see how they are performing relative to comparable farms.
Richard Wheeler, Director of Sidekick Rural Chartered Accountants, and his clients have been leveraging Figured software for the past six years, and says the results have been transformative.
“Efficiency and connectivity are at the heart of what we do. By integrating Figured, we seamlessly connect our farmers’ productive data with their financial data, saving them valuable time and providing superior insights. This enables us to deliver real-time management reporting, accurate forecasting, and comprehensive benchmarking. Our farmers can make informed, data-driven decisions and stay ahead of the curve when it comes to securing capital from banks,” he says.
“The beauty of Figured is that forecasts can be updated live during web meetings, so our farmers don’t even need to leave their farms. Figured has become an indispensable part of our toolkit, streamlining tasks that were once time-consuming. Among our dairy clients, at least three-quarters are Co-op farmers who greatly benefit from having their milk production and dairy cattle data seamlessly integrated into the system.”
Reach out to your accountant for more information about how tools like Figured can help make your farming systems more efficient.