Nuffield scholar Shannon Notter on increasing dairy farmers’ profitability

A southwest Victorian dairy farmer has travelled the world, visiting 11 countries in a quest to help other Australians working in the industry make more money.

Carlisle River dairy farmer and Nuffield scholar Shannon Notter. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

SHANNON Notter is about as passionate a supporter of the Australian dairy industry that you might find. And her love for the game is even the more impressive when you consider she’s been in it for less than a decade.

The Nuffield scholar runs 500 crossbred cows on 350ha family farm at Carlisle River, south of Colac, in southwest Victoria and, while she wasn’t raised on a dairy farm, her interest in primary production began at a young age.

On leaving school, Shannon studied agriculture and agribusiness working with dairy businesses in New Zealand and the UK. A stint as an agribusiness bank manager on New Zealand’s South Island followed where her “passion and focus on business profitability, as well as encouraging others to do the same, developed”.

Shannon has been farming in Australia since 2013 and said she had seen significant changes in the outlook of farmers in the industry during this time as they faced huge market and climate challenges.

She said in an effort to understand what others were facing “and see what other industries were doing to encourage their farmers to focus on profitability, in a time where at home I could see many farmers flourishing even with noise and negativity surrounding them”, she applied and was successful in winning a Nuffield scholarship.

Her research topic was increasing Australian dairy farmers’ focus on profitability. Her studies took her to 11 nations.

GLOBAL VIEW

SHANNON said the objectives of her research were to gain an understanding of the global dairy industry and the opportunities and challenges different countries face; to understand the drivers that affect business profitability of dairy farmers; to learn about different farmer mindsets and how it can affect the dairy industry and identify the approaches taken in other countries, that have been successful in shifting farmers’ mindsets, which could be adopted in Australia.

She said profitability was critical to creating a sustainable dairy farm business with business operating environments constantly changing and facing challenges, whether they be social, political, economic, environmental or technological.

“To stay abreast of these challenges and maintain profitability, dairy farmers need to continually embrace educational opportunities to manage changes that affect their business,” Shannon said.

Shannon said a main challenge identified for increasing engagement was that personal factors such as risk appetite, attitude and motivation, financial pressure and differences in long-term goals differed greatly between farm businesses and were ultimately major drivers for whether decision makers have a strong focus on financial performance.

“The state of the industry also has a major effect on the outlook of dairy farmers and whether they see available opportunities or large challenges ahead,” she said.

“Consistently, top-performing farmers around the world are looking to upskill or adopt new research that may have an impact on their business. They also share common characteristics such as setting a budget, knowing cost of production, having a fertile herd, being proactive, being an employer of choice and setting goals. To get more farmers to engage and focus on these factors, that create consistently profitable businesses, encouraging them in a time of stress will have the greatest impact.”

ALL ABOARD

SHANNON acknowledged that the Australian dairy industry had faced many challenges recently with a number of businesses under financial pressure which could in turn allow the industry to increase farmer engagement.

In her scholarship report, she recommended the industry increase engagement including focusing on key decision makers, with emphasis on upskilling and lifting capabilities of women in dairy business; promoting the role of key influencers, particularly by developing more farm advisers who have trusted knowledge and experience along with involving opinion leaders, who are high performers in their region and well regarded by peers.

She also recommended the creation of an information-rich environment by disseminating information in multiple forms, adding that acknowledgment that people had become time poor needed to be made, and videos, podcasts and other media were becoming a focus for information delivery to farmers.

She also called for the development of a long-term industry strategy to enable farmers the confidence to reinvest in farm businesses and realise opportunities in the sector.

“Currently the Australian dairy industry is working towards implementing the Australian Dairy Plan which is aiming to build a more profitable, confident and united future over the next three to five years,” Shannon said.

“While this is important, the industry also needs a longer-term strategy that has all stakeholders on board, including farmers, processors, banks, accountants and other service providers.”