What is the number one thing Irish farmers don’t have enough of? Time. Time for their families, time for hobbies and time for financial management.
To assist farmers with financial management, ifac has introduced FarmPro, a service to transform how farmers manage their finances.
Delivered by ifac experts, and supported by Bank of Ireland, FarmPro is an online financial management and planning service that aims to help farmers make good financial decisions, improve farm profits, and make farms more viable and sustainable.
FarmPro gives farmers clarity, confidence and control over the running of their farms.
This advice-led service is available exclusively to ifac clients. Bank of Ireland is supporting the launch of ifac’s new service, and is providing sponsorships for its customers who sign up to FarmPro.
There are two offerings:
- FarmPro which gives farmers a present-day snapshot of farm performance using the most recent relevant data;
- FarmPro+ which layers this data with ifac advice and expertise in budgeting, forecasting and benchmarking.
Ifac is introducing a free access to FarmPro (option 1) for 2020 only.
‘Where is my money going?’
FarmPro+ gives farmers access to an array of budgeting, forecasting and benchmarking tools, ifac expertise and data-driven insights.
With these tools, farmers can answer the age old question: “Where is my money going?” and, more importantly, they can make good decisions about where their money goes in the future. FarmPro+ gives farmers the information they need to spot the opportunities and financial risks on their farm.
In their 45 years’ working with farming communities across Ireland, ifac has seen at first-hand the time invested by farmers in building up a successful farm business, and has no doubt that solid money management is vital.
According to research carried out by ifac, many farmers (over 50%) do not prepare budgets or cash-flows for their farm businesses, citing a lack of time as the key issue.
Those who do prepare budgets and cash-flows claim that it gives them more clarity and oversight of their farms, as well as keeping them well-informed for decision-making when it comes to meetings with advisors and banks, resulting in simplified and more efficient business meetings.
Existing farm management tools tend to focus on inputs rather than insights, and do not give the full picture of farm performance.
FarmPro, leveraging cutting-edge technology from Figured – a global leader in agri software development based in New Zealand – gives farmers access to a single online source of up-to-date information from a number of trusted information providers (including ifac, banks and merchants).
By combining the latest farm financial data from ifac’s book-keeper service, herd movements from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) and expert advice from ifac, FarmPro provides the insights farmers need to make profitable business decisions, and automates a lot of the data entry (typing up cheque books, merchant statements, etc) that was previously required.
Farmers will get a precise snapshot of their farm performance using a powerful combination of current data, technology and advice, which will put them firmly in control of their financial present and future.
Ifac is working with Bank of Ireland to put state-of-the-art technology and expert advice into the hands of Irish farmers; enhancing their capability to make better-informed financial decisions, and get faster access to finance, when they need it.
Contact your local ifac office for more details on this unique service offering. Find out more at: www.ifac.ie/farm-pro/.
