Grain growers across the Wimmera, Mallee and North Central will have the opportunity to sharpen their financial decision-making ahead of the 2026 season, with BCG hosting a series of three free workshops in March, May and June.
Designed in response to priorities identified by local growers, the workshops will each tackle a different, but critical area of farm business management. One workshop will focus machinery management, another on grain marketing and financial considerations, while the third will address cashflow planning and management.
The events are supported by the GRDC RiskWi$e initiative, which aims to build growers’ skills and confidence in making sound financial decisions in an increasingly volatile operating environment.
Each workshop will provide practical tools and worked examples that participants can apply immediately on their own farms, as well as frameworks to support clearer conversations with family members, business partners and advisers involved in key decisions.
Machinery management and financial considerations workshop
Machinery represents one of the largest and most volatile cost centres in a farm business, with decisions around purchase, replacement and scale having long-term implications for profitability and risk.
On Thursday 19 March in Charlton, growers are invited to a dedicated machinery management workshop led by Rob Sands from Analytica (WA).
Drawing on extensive experience, Rob will guide participants through worked examples to help develop a clear business plan for machinery management. The session will explore how machinery decisions interact with the whole business, including cashflow, labour and exposure to seasonal risk.
Discussion will also consider the financial and operational impacts of timeliness at sowing, spraying and harvest and the cost of delays across different operations. The workshop will examine machinery choices across key categories including seeders, sprayers, harvesters, tractors and emerging technologies such as autonomous spraying systems.
Participants are encouraged to come prepared for discussion and to share their own experiences, ensuring the session reflects real-world challenges faced by local farming businesses.
The Charlton workshop, at Charlton Park, Calder Hwy, Charlton, will run from 9.00am to 2.30pm, with morning tea and lunch provided.
The GRDC’s RiskWi$e initiative is led nationally by CSIRO with BCG leading the Victorian Action Research Group.
All three workshops are free to attend, with catering provided. To view full details and register, visit www.bcg.org.au/events.
