‘Crops, Rumps, Woolly Jumpers’ forum to focus on risk management

Farmers attending the 'Crops, Rumps and Woolly Jumpers - Working together' forum in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday
22 August will be engaged in a lively discussion on risk management by Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Melbourne Bill Malcolm.

"Managing risk is the key to successful farming. Farming is more challenging and complex than ever, so farmers need to be able to weigh up options using as much information as possible," Professor Malcolm said.

"Coping with the challenges and complexity of farming during the next decade will involve farmers mastering more and more information and much of that will be very technical, agronomic and economic."

The forum is being presented by Sheep Connect NSW (a collaboration between NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) and Australian Wool Innovation Limited) and the EH Graham Centre (an alliance between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and NSW DPI) with support from Meat and Livestock Australia and EverCrop.

Forum convenor, Sheep Connect NSW Co-ordinator, Michelle Anderson, said the free forum aims to promote discussion between the panel and the audience - a mix of local farmers, industry representatives and service providers.

"It's designed to enable farmers, particularly those involved in livestock and cropping enterprises, to address and draw attention to key issues affecting their business," she said.

Professor Malcolm along with NSW DPI's Jason Crean and CSU's Karl Behrendt will take part in afternoon workshops covering such things as the risk return trade off for farmers when choosing the mix of crops and livestock in their farming systems.

"A key message is that there are very good technical and economic reasons for running mixed-farming businesses," Professor Malcolm said.

"In choosing the right balance between crops and livestock we need to take account of returns and risks. We will be going through the thinking processes involved in weighing up the decisions between the mix of livestock and cropping."

The forum is being held at Joyes Hall, Charles Sturt University, Pine Gully Road, Wagga Wagga, from 8.30 am to 4 pm. RSVP by Friday 17 August for catering purposes by emailing your details to sheep.connect@dpi.nsw.gov.au or telephone (02) 6391 3871.

For further details visit www.sheepconnectnsw.com.au or contact Geoff Casburn on 0428 420 886 or Michelle Anderson on 0428 304 660.

Photo available from toni.nugent@dpi.nsw.gov.au

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