FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New financial benchmarking report empowers farmers to take control of their finances
Agri-Food Management Excellence (AME) and BDO Canada develop report for farmers to gauge their
performance
Guelph, ON (June 18, 2019) – Canadian farmers have a new resource available to help them navigate
and improve their profitability, with the new Standardized Farm Financial Statements and
Benchmarks for Better Management Decisions report from AME and BDO Canada. The report
includes financial data from over 1,400 farms across Canada, including grain, oilseed and dairy farms.
AME and BDO used the data to produce financial benchmarks that allow farmers to compare
themselves against profitable farmers in their industry. Using the benchmarks provides a better
understanding of a farm’s performance, and help farmers set targets, just like they do in the field or
barn, to increase operational efficiencies and, ultimately, increase profits.
“Through my conversations with farmers, I regularly hear that they struggle to understand their
performance from tax oriented financial statements. Also there’s no consistency in statements from
accountant to accountant, making them impossible to compare,” says Larry Martin, the report’s senior
author and a Principal of AME. “In today’s tough economic times, it’s even more important for farmers
to understand what their financial statements tell them.”
“By standardizing the income statement, every farmer’s statement is comparable, so they are much
clearer about the management information it contains. The standardization plus the benchmarks help
farmers know where they are and help them identify where they have room to grow.”
Understanding financial performance and benchmarking is not new for AME. The company is a leader in
applying financial benchmarks to empower farmers, ranchers and agri-business professionals to build
sustainable business strategies and improve efficiencies in their operations. Larry and AME have been
teaching these principles in their CTEAM course, a two-year program that gives participants the
opportunity to develop their farm’s own strategy and operational plan through classes and one-on-one
coaching, for over 20 years.
“The most successful farmers look beyond their own farms—they look for new opportunities, new
research and new ways to do business, with the end-goal of capturing more margin. This report gives
farmers information to help them improve their farms and achieve their financial goals,” says Larry.
The Standardized Farm Financial Statements and Benchmarks for Better Management Decisions is
available for free download on the AME website.
About Agri-Food Management Excellence
Agri-Food Management Excellence offers leading edge farm management courses to farmers, ranchers
and agri-business professionals. AME’s most popular course, CTEAM, teaches farmers detailed financial,
marketing and human relations management skills, using the farmer’s own operation as a case study.
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For more information, contact:
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Larry J. Martin, Agri-Food Management Excellence 519-841-1698 Larry@agrifoodtraining.com |
Calissa Reid Public Relations, AdFarm 403-410-7672 calissa.reid@adfarmonline.ca |