Go Easy on Farmers

Farmers can be forgiven for feeling “got at”, says farm business specialist Peter Floyd. Pressured by governments, processing industries, banks to increase production to counteract falling profits, farmers are then criticised by district councils, the urban public and international markets because of real or perceived environmental damage.

“Farming leaders tell them to be more sensitive to their environmental footprint, but what does that mean in practical terms,” asks Floyd.

“More fencing, more chemicals to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions, bigger effluent ponds, fancy new fodder crops that might reduce rumen methane generation, boluses that introduce genetically modified bacteria to the rumen? Whatever it may mean, it sounds expensive.”

The environment has certainly suffered as a result of the production culture, but so have many farmers and their families and it can all seem very unfair when farmers are desperately trying to stay in business.

Floyd, who is the managing director of Cogent Farming Business Systems, advocates a different approach that can lead to greater profit and sustainability. All it takes, he says, is an inquiring mind, some strategic measurements and a bit of discipline.

“There are three aspects of the farm environment that can be measured and managed more effectively and sustainably using a profit focus:

• Soils: In my view, farmers who focus on total exchange capacity and adjusted base saturation percentages for key elements achieve a higher nutrient uptake by pasture plants along with improved physical structure and biological activity in the soil. The results include greater levels of organic matter and greater root depth that all help to take the edge off the drought on these properties.

• Pastures: Overstocking, risky chemical applications, over-cultivation, pugged paddocks – pastures and the soils under them have been abused all over the country. However, there are now new tools that allow the assessment of daily profit from various management strategies and can lead to some major benefits for both the environment and the bottom line.

• Animal husbandry: A profit focus highlights the need for better stock condition. We have been wedded to the idea that chemicals will always fix things, but today the good news is that using the right measures to manage soils and pastures leads to more nutritious feed and healthier animals with greatly reduced chemical inputs. I have seen farmers who take this approach reduce their animal health bills dramatically. “

So is the environment farmers’ first priority? Floyd believes that a major focus has to be improving the profitability of their businesses because without that they and their families will not survive financially.

“But if in doing that they degrade the environment then their profitability is not sustainable, so they do have a financial imperative to protect the environment,” he says.

“I believe they can succeed in both priorities. It has taken me a long time to work out how, but I can now say with confidence that farming can be sustainably profitable and actually reduce their overall environmental footprint by increasing soil carbon. It is already being done successfully.”

Peter Floyd is the managing director of COGENT Farming Business Systems Ltd. www.profitfocusedfarming.co.nz

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