Collaborate to survive and thrive

The study explores farm level collaborative models from around the world to conclude the following:

• There is an enormous amount of investment money currently looking for a home in agricultural ventures, especially in Australia. Such ventures need to be structured in such a way that they can be scrutinised alongside other industry and investment sectors;

• Businesses need to be able to differentiate between real estate and agribusiness, and if necessary separate the two to maximise performance;

• There are no set rules on how a business model can be set up, outside of the laws and regulation by which you are governed. There are many entrepreneurial structures which can be designed to share risk and reward between parties for the benefit of all, including flexi -leases and share farming options;

• All collaborative ventures need to be set up with the notion of win - win in mind;

• Successful, large scale businesses create cells of optimum efficiency and profitability, and replicate them. The two greatest threats to the success of any collaborative venture are emotions and personalities of the parties involved.

Collaborate to survive and thrive - The full report (pdf version)

A Nuffield Australia Farming Scholarship Report

John Gladigau, October 2007