Planfarm and BankWest have joined forces to produce Australia's most comprehensive farming benchmarks, to be launched at the Dowerin Field Day on the 27 August 2008.
The Planfarm/BankWest Benchmarks Survey is the largest of its kind in Australia and provides valuable information about the financial and production performance of West Australian broad-acre farm businesses. The survey includes data from clients of Planfarm, BankWest and agribusiness consultancy Bedbrook Johnston Williams.
Both Planfarm and BankWest have strong experience with benchmarking with BankWest benchmarking the performance of Western Australian farms since the early 1960s, and Planfarm recording and analysing the performance of West Australian farms for thirty years.
BankWest Rural and Regional State Manager Michael Kettle said the bank was excited to form this partnership which would ensure the continuation of quality benchmarking data in Western Australia to help farmers analyse their effectiveness.
"This partnership with Planfarm will ensure Western Australian farmers continue to receive useful benchmarks from two well established benchmarking companies," Mr Kettle said.
Planfarm Managing Director Greg Kirk said the company was pleased to be partnering with BankWest, an organisation that already had a solid history of benchmarking in Western Australia.
"The purpose of our benchmarks has always been to providing the farming community with information they can use to see how their farm and business is performing," he said. "BankWest is a good fit for Planfarm as they have experience in benchmarking and these benchmarks will provide Western Australian farmers with a comprehensive outlook on how the best farms are performing."
BankWest has previously undertaken its own annual benchmarks but farm consolidation and a number of other factors reduced the data set and reliability of the survey. BankWest has partnered with Planfarm to continue a strong benchmarking data set in Western Australia.
Approximately 500 farm businesses from most districts in the WA wheat-sheep belt participate in the annual survey.
Full details of how farm businesses really shape up will be available at the Dowerin GWN Field Days from 27 August - 28 August 2008.
