Key to know your goals

FARMERS need to know their business and goals back to front before seeking outside capital investment to grow.

That’s according to the boss of one of Australia’s biggest beef companies.

Phil Cummins, chief executive of the North Australia Pastoral Company, which runs about 200,000 cattle across 5.8 million hectares in Queensland, told an investment forum at the Beef Australia expo in Rockhampton last week that for farmers it was not just about understanding their business well, but “the value and what you’re trying to achieve from capital”.

Mr Cummins held senior positions with the Queensland Investment Corporation before it bought an 80 per cent share in NAPCO in 2016.

“Being clear about what you are, why you do what you do and what you’re here to achieve is paramount,” he said.

“The biggest thing at the end of the day to make it successful is making sure you get the alignment of what you want to achieve versus the alignment of the investor.

“Attention spans are pretty short, so to be able to cut through is really important. A lot of the time investors would have looked at a number of investments beforehand.”

Austrade agribusiness and food senior investment specialist Anne Maree Weston said investment interest in Australian agriculture was continuing to grow globally.

“They see the beef sector in Australia as a very good opportunity to get ease of access into the Asian markets and also take advantage of Australia’s free-trade agreements,” she said.