We are delighted to announce that CANEGROWERS has partnered with Intellichoice to develop succession planning strategies for cane growers

CANEGROWERS has partnered with Queensland based financial planning company Intellichoice to help address what CANEGROWERS COO Ron Mullins has identified as the key issue facing cane growers over the next 10 years.

"As the average population of our growers ages, the time is coming fast to start thinking about how to move the properties onto the next generation," My Mullins says.

"Many growers have worked hard to educate their children but that sometimes means they are no longer available to take over the farm," he says. "Growers need to consider all their options when planning for the future and in many cases that means speaking with a specialist in that field."

Intellichoice have more than 20 years-experience working with growers and they understand the industry.  No one solution works for everyone and they specialise in developing individually tailored plans.

Members of the Intellichoice team are currently touring throughout Queensland and providing seminars at local offices.

Intellichoice was honoured to be an official sponsor of “eat Australian-sourced food” on Australia Day on Thursday 26 January 2012.

President of AgForce,the Queensland horticultural growers organisation, Brent Finlay, launched the campaign with a presentation to the Deputy Prime Minister, Treasurer Wayne Swan, of a hamper of Australian produce. The Hamper was described as a symbolic gesture of appreciation of Australian Government support following the flood disasters.

The event aimed to encourage Aussies to “Eat Australian on Australia Day” and take a moment to consider the effort it took to get the food to the table.

AgForce Queensland, Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF), Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC), CANEGROWERS, Resource Consulting Services (RCS), Queensland Dairyfarmers Organisation (QDO), Tasmanian Farmers & Graziers Association (TFGA), Australian Prawn Farmers’ Association (APFA) and Growcom worked together on the promotion.

Agforce’s Mr Finlay said, “After experiencing some of the worst climatic events in our history, Australian growers deserve to know they are being appreciated. Their work and their efforts are highly valued among the Australian community, and this is a terrific way to show it.”

It's not news to anyone reading this, owning a farm is hard work. Not only is the work difficult, but then there is the paperwork and the seemingly endless red tape that needs to be satisfied.

Sometimes insurances like Life Insurance and Income Protection Insurance can get forgotten about or pushed to the bottom of the to-do list.

They don't seem all that important - maybe even something that can wait for another day.

That is until something goes wrong.

For most farmers, no work means no pay. That means no income for the farm and no pay for other employees.

Life Insurance and Income Protection Insurance simply means that in the event that the farmer is no longer able to work, there is still money coming in (either in instalments or in one lump sum). That money can then be used to pay staff and even specialist managers to maintain the farm.

Insurances like Life and Income Protection can mean the difference between a farm surviving a significant event such as an illness or accidental injury or becoming another casualty.

According to Rod Page of Intellichoice, one of the biggest barriers for farmers when setting up their insurances is that while they may be used to insuring their farm and their vehicles, most think risk insurance is complicated

“We work with our clients to show them that risk insurance is really just an insurance that means that if something terrible happens to you, your finances are protected,” he says.

“Being largely self employed, it is important that farmers protect both themselves and their farm in case they are suddenly unable to work,” he says.

The  common insurances that farmers should consider are Income protection, trauma insurance, life cover and total and permanent disability.

Once you make the decision to go ahead with insurance, Rod helps with all the paperwork and makes sure the correct insurances are in place and set up in the correct manner.

Another concern of many clients is also cost.

“One of my clients came to me several years ago when things were particularly tough,” he says. “He was concerned about covering himself and his farm in the event that he was unable to work but he didn’t have any spare cash.  The solution was to set up his insurances through his superannuation until the farm was profitable again. His farm has picked up again now and he is paying extra into his superannuation to cover the insurance premiums.”

He was surprised at how easy it was and how much peace of mind it gave him.