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This
is Graham and Bettina Spencer.
They
have farmed a 187 hectare Dairy Farm on the Dorrigo Plateau near Coffs Harbour,
NSW, Australia in partnership with Bettina's parents since 1976. Graham and
Bettina have investigated a number of diversification options for the property
over the years and have established and run a Farm-Stay Cottage on the property
since 2002.
In
2003, they decided to undertake a Topoclimate
Farm Plan with Topoclimate
Services for their property to identify and map the soils and
microclimates as a basis for providing better information for their farm
decision making.
The
Spencers offered this reason for creating a Topoclimate Farm Plan: “We
decided, after discussion with the Topoclimate staff, that our medium term goal
was to increase productivity and to improve the value of the farm for potential
resale through the production of detailed, high quality information on our land
resource”.
Graham
and Bettina were very pleased with the detail of the information in their plan
when it was produced and immediately used the information to improve their
irrigation system on their farm and established some trial plantings of some of
the crops identified by the Plan as being suitable for parts of their farm.
They
started to develop some areas into Dorrigo Pepper, a native bush tucker plant
with developing interest as a culinary condiment.Their plan has identified
suitable areas and Graham became involved with others on the Dorrigo Plateau
who were interested in developing this crop.
In
2006, Graham and Bettina decided to retire from farming and put their farm on
the market.
“We were able to market the farm very
effectively based on the information in our Farm Plan and maps”
Graham says. “The
maps and data were great to show to potential buyers and made a big difference
to the sale process.We
estimate that our investment in the farm plan returned
us an extra $200,000 which was a very good return on
our $15,000* investment in the Plan.“
The
property has now sold for what Graham calls “a very good price” and The Spencers
are free to pursue their retirement dream of travelling around Australia in a
Campervan and watching their grandchildren grow up.
Graham
and Bettina Spencer‘s experience illustrates another significant value
from undertaking a Farm Plan for your property - knowledge and information on
your land can provide an excellent return on your investment in some farm
planning.
In
their case, they employed Topoclimate
Services to undertake their planning so that they had an
independent view of the value of their land resource. However, they could have
done most of the work themselves after doing FARMING
SMARTER and only employed the consultants for the more technical aspects
of the work.
After
completing FARMING SMARTER, you
will be able to produce a Farm Plan for your property (with only limited
technical assistance if required) that should add considerable value to your
asset, in the same way, that the process has worked for the Spencers.
* You can now obtain the same information through FARMING
SMARTER which requires an investment of only $595.00 and may also attract a 65%
Farmbis subsidy.
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