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A commitment to agriculture involves managing good times and bad.
Booth Associates service all agricultural industries. A number of Booth Associates consultants and associates concurrently manage commercial farming businesses including irrigated row cropping and broadacre, dry land broadacre, sheep enterprises and irrigated horticultural farms.
Booth Associates business acumen is derived from not only understanding figures but being actively involved in running farm businesses through good and bad times.
Booth Associates have over 70 years of practical professional experience in agriculture and understand the difficulties associated with managing a farm business during drought.
Booth Associates are dedicated to capacity building our clients towards business sustainability. Tailored practical advice and support aligns with Government Drought Assistance programs to alleviate financial burden when cash flow constraints are at their peak.
In response to the continuing drought the Federal Government has increased the level and type of
drought support available to farmers in your area.
There have been some important changes made to the eligibility criteria and there are some additional assistance grants available for your business.
Eligibility criteria for the EC Interest Rate Subsidy (IRS) have been relaxed including:
Furthermore levels of assistance under IRS have been increased.
EC Eligibility Criteria
For farmers in areas that are EC declared a Professional Advice and Planning Grant is now available. 
This grant provides farmers with up to $5,500 (GST inclusive) for professional advice including assistance in developing drought management and recovery plans.
Business planning is not only about getting over the hurdles of peak debt next year but also about long term recovery. It is important to identify how your business is going to progress into the future.
Please take the time to read the Drought Management Strategies and Managing your Finances in the Drought articles below that explain some of the main considerations for farm business managers to recover from the ongoing drought.
Drought Management Strategies
Managing Finances in a Drought
Utilising the Professional Advice and Planning Grant Booth Associates have been assisting clients address a range of questions and scenarios according to their individual goals and needs. The specific questions differ according to the stage of evolution of the business and goals. Examples of such questions posed in recent times include:
Do I have the capacity to buy the farm next door?
What is the limit of my business resources should the drought continue?
What will my finance requirements be for the next three to five years?
What level of capex can my business sustain?
What will be the best enterprise mix for my irrigation business based on lower water availability in the future?
What is my business’ capacity for drought recovery in 2008 with average rainfall? This question includes assessing the optimal;
Area of crop and level of inputs;
Replacement cost for stock; and
Feed purchase costs.
These questions are addressed using a stepped process which demonstrates the impact of the base seasonal scenario on both cash flow and balance sheet. Backing up this process is a detailed sensitivity analysis which provides the opportunity to examine the “what if’s” given both a range of both seasonal outcomes and enterprise decisions. This analysis allows for risk management options to be understood and implemented.
