As a skilled dairy farmer and an ex-bank manager for the National Bank, Clint Gulliver has experience on both sides of the fence. He’s spent many years in the agricultural industry, gaining a Bachelor of Commerce from Lincoln University and holding positions on the Young Farmer and National Fieldays Society boards. Now as an agribusiness consultant for AgFirst Waikato, Clint puts his industry knowledge to good use, helping local dairy farmers get the best out of their farm businesses.
One way he does this is through the Dairy Systems Monitoring (DSM) programme. DSM, run by AgFirst and powered by FARMAX, enables farmers to better understand the performance of their own farm by benchmarking it against those of their peers.
“It's a program that's been around since the early ‘90s to ensure people are maintaining profitable farming systems and AgFirst has just completed our second season,” explains Clint.
All on the table
“We have 10 clients in the group at the moment, of which 90% of those are Waikato based and we have more coming on as people see the benefits of the programme. It's a great programme…but the challenge is finding the right person who will be able to understand it and actually be willing to partake in the programme in its entirety because of the fact everything is named and everything is put on the table.”
DSM has been run through Baker Ag in the Wairarapa and MacFarlane Rural Business in Canterbury and has got over 200 members across New Zealand and Tasmania.
The people involved in DSM are aspirational, forward thinking, open to technology and can’t be shy about sharing their information. Although the only information reported on is farm business expenses and there is no way to differentiate between members of the group, many people put up a brick wall when the topic of finances comes up.
“There's some frank, but some very good structured conversation around the reporting that's in front of them…trying to dive into some of the understanding as to why that person does it the way they do without actually going 'you're doing it wrong' because every farmer does it differently”, says Clint.
Ultimately, those in the programme understand the importance of having a profitable farm system and are open to sharing ideas and learning from others. Clint appreciates that holding yourself to account can be hard and that it’s sometimes easier blaming the weather or something else, but when the numbers are right there in front of you it’s hard to argue.
“Where DSM is hugely valuable is it cuts through all the rubbish. People they get tired, they lose sight of what's going on and all these numbers are going round and round in your head…the programme provides a level of independent oversight...it provides a great independent leveller.”
"There's some frank, but some very good structured conversation around the reporting that's in front of them…trying to dive into some
of the understanding as to why that person does
it the way they do without actually going
'you're doing it wrong' because every farmer
does it differently."
- Clint Gulliver, AgFirst Waikato
You don't know what you don't know
The DSM programme provides a good way for farmers to understand what is happening on farm, why it is happening and allows for more questions to be asked.
AgFirst consultants enter each farmer’s data into FARMAX so that there are no conflicts of interest when it comes to the final reporting.
“Like any model, FARMAX is looking backwards, taking information you've just finished to try and look forwards…now that there's evidence there after finishing our second season, there's a good indication of what the farm can actually do”, says Clint.
People don’t know what they don’t know, and DSM can bring these things to light.
Despite all the benefits of DSM, some farmers still have reservations, often because they are uncomfortable with sharing their information, explains Clint.
“The use of the word benchmarking is what freaks them out...but once we're able to get into the nuts and bolts of what the program is about and explaining that yes your information is known to everybody else, but the whole purpose of this is to look inwardly at our business, not poke fun at the guy over the fence.”
A holistic view
For those that do partake, the benefits are well worth it. DSM provides a greater holistic view of the entire farm system and allows farmers to benchmark their entire system based on goals that they set, not on what everybody else is doing.
“The members of the group understand the benefits that can be gained from it and enjoy being able to sit round and have discussions around what's going on...it's a matter of getting others on who wholeheartedly partake.”
There is a lot more potential for DSM as well, with Clint hoping to build metrics around the human and labour side and make use of new tools in FARMAX 8, such as the greenhouse gas and nitrogen features.
“Having some of these metrics built in will allow us as an independent organisation to go ‘hey there's something that could be really easily fixed and it would be hugely beneficial for your business'."
