Gains from leading agribusiness management course

Alumni event showcases gains from leading agribusiness management course

Agribusiness leaders from across New Zealand and Australia are seeing results after completing a business management course tailored for the industry’s most progressive primary producers.

Held in Moree late last month, an Alumni event for graduates of Rabobank’s Executive Development Program (EDP) has seen some of Australasia’s most innovative producers proclaim the benefits of stepping outside their businesses, upgrading their management skills and gaining a new perspective.

With over 35 graduates, spanning eight years of EDP courses in attendance, the Alumni event was an opportunity for graduates to come together and discuss issues affecting the industry and their businesses.

Kobie Tesoriero, Rabobank’s business programs manager said that over the four days, attendees had the opportunity to discuss both the successes and challenges they had experienced since completing the course.

“The EDP Alumni events give graduates a very valuable opportunity to reflect on the progress they have made since completing the course and to discuss with their peers, some of the challenges they have faced.”

“Changes include streamlining their human resource management, implementing expansion and growth strategies, and introducing a better work/life balance. The course has made a fundamental impact on an increasing number of leading farm businesses across Australia and New Zealand,” Ms Tesoriero says.

“It is inspirational to work with such motivated people who have such a ‘can-do’ attitude. The EDP provides the framework and tools to grow your business, and proving just what makes them progressive, each participant who attended the Alumni programme has taken an aspect of what they had learnt at the EDP, shaped it to their own business and have had a tangible benefit as a result,” she says.

Emily Crofoot, a graduate from EDP course 3, which ran in 2001 and 2002, attended the Alumni event with her husband Anders. Mrs Crofoot says that the EDP gave her the insights and impetus they needed to address the work culture on their Wairarapa Station.

“Having purchased the Station in 1998, and wanting to advance the business, there was a need to transform the culture from a ‘big station mentality’ where one thinks in terms of averages to a culture where individual performance is measured. The EDP gave us the tools to systematically achieve this,” Mrs Crofoot says.

“The changes in the attitude of our staff, along with the systems put in place have been fundamental in our ability to achieve productivity increases of approximately 20 per cent per year,” she says.

Ms Tesoriero says that along with the insights that participants take home from the formal course sessions, another key benefit is the development of a diverse network of innovative and established primary producers.

“By its very nature, agriculture is an industry that can be quite isolating, but like most industries it is driven by innovation and the exchange of ideas. Each year the EDP gives 36 progressive producers from across Australia and New Zealand the opportunity to sit in the same room and discuss both their businesses and the wider issues facing the industry,” Ms Tesoriero says.

Mrs Crofoot says that both the business skills learned and the vast network of people to bounce ideas off have been fantastic.

“It was so good to be around positive people who are going forward, thinking laterally. I’ve been to three Alumni events now, so my network is still growing – it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn from what others are doing,” Mrs Crofoot says.

The EDP has just opened applications for the next course, commencing in August. The business management course specially designed for leading owners/operators of farm businesses in Australia and New Zealand – has, to date, assisted over 330 farmers to develop business skills to enhance the management of their farm operations.

The EDP runs two week-long face-to-face course modules during a 12 month period. Both weeks are held in Sydney and provide a motivating and challenging mix of commercial and theoretical class discussions, case studies and interactive sessions.

EDP participants are the owners/operators of leading farm businesses, selected on a merit basis, representing a broad cross-section of regions and industries. Selection criteria include at least five years’ management experience on farm, a demonstrable and successful commercial track record, an ability to innovate and a desire to invest in the intellectual capital of an agricultural business.

Applications for the EDP close on 25 May and the first module runs from 26 to 31 August in Sydney. For more information on the 2007-2008 Executive Development Program, contact Kobie Tesoriero by phone: (+61 2) 8115 2241, email: Kobie.Tesoriero@rabobank.com, or contact your local Rabobank finance manager.

Rabobank New Zealand is a part of the international Rabobank Group, the world's leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. Rabobank has more than 100 years' experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness. Rabobank has a AAA credit rating and is ranked one of the world’s safest banks by Global Finance magazine.

Rabobank operates in 38 countries, servicing the needs of more than nine million clients worldwide through a network of more than 1500 offices and branches. Rabobank New Zealand is one of the leading rural lenders and a significant provider of business and corporate banking and financial services to the New Zealand food and agribusiness sector. The bank has 29 branches throughout New Zealand.

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