Streamlining farm office practices to save time

Agriculture Victoria is offering farmers an opportunity to participate in free farm office workshops designed to streamline and simplify the complexities of running a farm office.

Statewide Agriculture Recovery Manager Tess McDougall said the workshops are being offered as part of a suite of programs to support farmers who were impacted by the 2022 floods and storms.

‘The workshops are designed to help farmers develop the knowledge and skills they need to improve their farm businesses, with the aim of easing the administrative pressure on farmers at a time when they’re rebuilding their businesses from the floods.

‘The workshops will look at record keeping obligations for farm business and how things can be streamlined and simplified,’ she said.

Workshop facilitator Carmen Quade from Agrifocused said there is an abundance of different options for storing farm records and analysing data.

‘They range from carefully kept historical diaries to notes on the back of an envelope right through to top-of-the-line app based ag tech solutions. It’s just about finding the right option for you.

‘The requirement of running a farm office can be complex and time consuming and the workshop aims to help farmers customise their record keeping programs in a way that makes sense to them.’

The half-day workshops are being held at Wodonga on Tuesday 12 September, Tatura on Wednesday 13 September and Swan Hill on Thursday 14 September.

Topics to be covered include:

  • Legal requirements for farm businesses
  • Record keeping for tax and record keeping for livestock
  • Cloud-based and paper-based systems
  • Overcoming barriers to change
  • Tips for various bookkeeping programs
  • Data security and avoiding fraud.

/Public Release. View in full here.