Media release no.
Australian farms have a profit, as a percentage of shareholders' funds, of only 3.1 per cent - a return that is uncompetitive with businesses outside agriculture. This was the provocative statement made by Nigel McGuckian of Rendell McGuckian Agricultural and Management Consultants to the State Grower Crop Update at the Burswood Convention Centre on Friday. Mr McGuckian said this situation was eroding regional Australia, with rural towns suffering from a decline in population and services. However, Mr McGuckian identified a positive trend in the grains industry as evidence that all was not doom and gloom for the rural economy. In sharing his vision for the future, he predicted there would be more corporate farming, but he added that this did not mean the end of family operated properties.