Holmes Sackett Pty Ltd

                              Who we are and what we do

Holmes Sackett is an agricultural consultancy business focused on improving farm profit by providing independent business information to the Australian agricultural sector, both to primary producers as well as to the agricultural service division. The business has been operating for over ten years. Currently there are three farm business consultants and three support staff working from the Wagga Wagga office. There are three main parts to the business including farm benchmarking, farm consultancy and publications.

Farm benchmarking

Farm benchmarking is a process that analyses the productivity of the whole farm business and individual enterprises within the farm. The results and their financial consequences are compared to the results of other farms ranked into average and top 20%. These standard benchmarks form the basis from which improvements to the business can be identified. Holmes Sackett Farm Benchmarking is a full cost allocation system of farm performance appraisal allowing accurate profitability analysis and true cost production assessment. Farm business performance is benchmarked on an ongoing basis, providing a comprehensive data bank and level of understanding of farm performance.

2008 Holmes Sackett farm benchmarking statistics

Farm consultancy

Holmes Sackett provides independent farm business management advice to private and corporate clients in south-east Australia. The client base, of approximately 100 farms, extends from Armidale in upper New South Wales, to Mt Gambier in South Australia and Hobart in Tasmania. Services provided include; farm benchmarking, farm business planning, strategic management reviews and technical advice.

 Farm consultancy consists of the formulation of the annual farm business budget with results expressed in terms of cash flow, profit and loss and balance sheet, an in-depth review of the annual farm business benchmarking results. Other services include formulation and annual updating of the farm business plan, investment analysis, investigation and resolution of short term tactical issues and assistance with risk management in all its forms. Holmes Sackett also conducts farm performance assessment, farm business planning and strategic management reviews on behalf of individual producers, corporate producers and rural creditors.

Publications

Holmes Sackett invests heavily in economic research and profitability analysis and publishes the outcomes of the analysis in a range of subscription-based publications. These include: -

§ OnFarm – a bi-monthly 16-20 page newsletter providing practical, profit driven information for producers.

§   AgInsights – A 150 page annual summary of the Holmes Sackett farm business benchmarking service results. Results are analysed to investigate the factors that lead to improved farm business profitability.

§  FarmStaff - A comprehensive survey of remuneration of employees in agriculture is conducted and published every second year. This unique source of information investigates salaries, incentive schemes and employee feedback on what they like and dislike about working on farm.

Holmes Sackett business objective

Holmes Sackett aims to improve the profitability of enterprises in the agricultural sector through the provision of leading information, services and advice for client businesses. The business and services provided will be of the highest quality, independent and at all times ethical.

 Holmes Sackett, by virtue of its professional activities, has a comprehensive understanding of the issues and problems faced by producers across south-east Australia and provides objective and practical solutions. In addition, Holmes Sackett benchmarks the performance of more farms on an ongoing basis than other firms in this region. This provides detail and understanding of farm performance that is second to none.               

 Holmes Sackett works closely with a number of agribusinesses and draws upon a very wide range of specialist industry contacts to ensure that their advice is always up to date and of the highest possible quality.