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Finding the right kind of finance with the right bank is helping a busy dairy farmer in Victoria to go from strength to strength.
Advertiser content for Judo Bank
Like many businesses, Australian farmers continue to invest in improved operating processes, advancements in sustainable farming practices and are dedicated to driving business growth.
A well-known method to support these growth ambitions involves farmers and regional businesses building diversified revenue streams.
Knowing the importance of this for farmers, Judo Bank, purpose-built for supporting customers through judgement-based lending, established a dedicated regional and agribusiness division in 2022.
Judo recognised the importance of supporting this very important sector, and through its common-sense approach to lending, uses a relationship-driven model, along with agile systems and processes, to support farmers who operate both primary production and commercial style businesses.
“As farmers continue to focus on de-risking their businesses through creating sustainable and diversified income streams, it’s important that the bank is capable of assessing multiple income streams and our systems and processes are structured to support customers through this evolution,” says Judo Bank Regional and Agribusiness Managing Director, Jason Marr. Since 2022, Judo Bank has been backing Austraia’s agriculture industry through supporting progressive, forward-thinking farmers with a strong vision. Farmers who don’t necessarily tick all the boxes traditional banks look for. Judo Bank’s customer Beecher Dairy Farm is situated in Simpson, Victoria, and was introduced to Judo by Alister Murphy, Agribusiness Broker from Sprout Ag.
Michael and Katie Beecher currently operate a successful excavation business in conjunction with their dairy farm. Relationship manager Josh Broad met with Michael and Katie Beecher on the farm and took the time to develop a full understanding of the entire operation and their growth aspirations. He was able to form a view on both businesses and how they integrate with one another, something that can become a barrier for lending assessed through the major banks.
While Michael grew up in a dairy farming family, his father retired more than 20 years ago and after leaving school, Michael completed a plumbing apprenticeship. About six years ago he started an excavation business, specialising in water main installations and worked on new housing estates around the Melbourne and Geelong area. Two years ago he bought the 276-acre farm in Invergordon and then a further 100 acres nearby and milked 240 cows. “That went well but we wanted to expand and fortunately a bigger farm in Simpson, where I grow up, came onto the market,” says Michael. “It had good infrastructure, a well-built home, good soil types, lots of tree lines, so it was sheltered from the weather, and it was also in a stable rainfall area. We were blessed to get it. It also made it easier to run the excavation business as it’s closer to Melbourne. It was hard to milk cows in northern Victoria in the morning, go to work in Melbourne and then make the drive home to milk cows again.”
The key to making this happen was a bank that understood the customer and could see the business potential. Without this, Michael wouldn’t have been able to get the bank funding he needed to make this happen. The move to Simpson has allowed the Beechers to follow through on their expansion plans. The 670-acre property currently has 370 milkers with room to increase the herd. Judo Bank’s specialist agribusiness bankers focus on supporting rural businesses through business lending, line or credit and equipment finance options. Importantly, the bank takes a relationship-based approach and prides itself on bringing back the craft of relationship banking and common-sense, character-first lending.
This kind of approach is making the world of difference to farming families like Michael and Katie Beecher. “Judo Bank were more flexible in their prerequisites for a loan. They were also very encouraging, and dealing with them has been a comfortable, straightforward process that has helped us take this exciting next step, says Michael.
Looking for a bank that’s supporting the future of agriculture? Start a long-term relationship with our specialist agribusiness bankers. Learn more at www.judo.bank/agribusiness.
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