Most of what the businesses around your farm ask you for is something your farm already knows. Your processor wants a version of it and your bank wants a version of it, each in its own format and through its own process, and what that costs you is answering variations of the same question again and again. It is a point Will Onus, our COO, returns to often. He came back to it over a few days in Tasmania, in conversations at a Greenham Producer Day in Launceston and with Sam Conibear from CommBank.
The requests arrive separately partly because the reasons behind them are different. A processor’s reasons follow its markets. Peter Greenham gave a clear example when he spoke at the producer day about the capability being added at the Smithton facility. As Greenham grows its markets it needs more from the producers who supply it, so the compliance asked of you rises along with that growth. A bank’s reasons follow its lending and risk decisions. The conversation with Sam pointed to banks wanting a clear picture of how a farm business is running in place of sending you another questionnaire for information the farm already holds.
Seen that way, the reason for a request is part of the request, and it is a fair thing to ask the business making it. How it is explained makes a difference too. Jess Mitchell spoke to producers on the day about how to take part in the programs on offer, and Will’s observation was that a higher requirement sits easier when the business asking sets it out plainly and shows you how to meet it.
Nobody asking is wrong to want the information. Your farm business generates one set of facts about itself, covering what it produces, how it operates, where its risks sit and where its strengths are, and each business around you needs a version of them. The cost is in the repetition, which is time spent restating what someone else already has.
None of this removes the requirements, which each business sets for its own reasons. It does mean the facts behind them are ones you already hold. On Ruminati, your data stays yours and you choose who sees it.
