NT Farmers Financial Fitness Project

In partnership with the NT Farmers Association (NTFA), Rural Business Support delivered the NTFA Financial Fitness Program to growers in the Darwin and Katherine regions.

The aim was to help the participating farming and pastoral businesses build their financial literacy skills, develop a better understanding of their businesses’ current financial position and issues, and to start using various tools/approaches to assist them to make better business decisions.

RBS Business Financial Counsellor, Kate Green delivered the first workshop sessions face-to-face in Darwin in August 2021. The initial round of workshops was delivered to two groups over two days and was well attended by NTFA members, including a translated session involving a group of over 30 Vietnamese growers. The workshops were well received, with participants engaged and interacting with the presenters throughout.

NTFA members then decided to participate in a further three additional workshops online. This ensured growers could participate in a way that was both convenient and comfortable to them, as well as allowing the program to reach as many NTFA members as possible.

Following the workshop series, one-on-one sessions were offered by Kate Green and RBS’s team of Business Financial Counsellors to participating growers. This provided the opportunity to look at their individual business’s financial performance in more detail and to develop strategies to improve their long-term sustainability.

This included the use of a powerful farm business financial analysis and planning software tool, Plan2Profit AgriTM.

The program was a result of a successful NTFA grant from the Northern Territory Government’s Small Business Financial Fitness Fund grant, part of the Jobs First Plan, an initiative supporting jobs and the economy.

This project is proudly supported by the NT Farmers Association, with grant funding from the Northern Territory Government.