PODCAST · business
Profitable Farmer
by Farm Owners Academy
This show is all about increasing the profitability of your farm so you work smarter and not harder. Your host, Andrew Roberts from the Farm Owners Academy reveals the best farming business tips for more leverage in your farm business.
Episodes
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#200 - Uncertainty Is the Only Certainty - Building Resilience with Maria Ruberto
Uncertainty Is the Only Certainty: Building Resilience with Psychologist Maria Ruberto Two hundred episodes in, and the thread running through nearly all of them is this: the numbers matter, but what's going on in our heads and hearts is what determines whether we thrive or just survive. So for...
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#199 - Proud to Be Pioneering the Uptake of AI in Our Industry, with Sam Johnsson, CEO, Farm Owners Academy
AI is moving fast — incredibly fast — and whether we like it or not, the game has changed. In this week’s episode, I sit down with Sam Johnsson, CEO of Farm Owners Academy. Sam, along with Michaela, Greg, and the broader FOA team, has been doing outstanding work in this space, not just exploring...
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# 198 - How Much Profit Should Your Farm Really Be Making? With your host, Jeremy Hutchings, Managing Director, Farm Owners Academy
There is a question every farming family should be able to answer with confidence: How well is our farm business actually performing — and what is it truly capable of? Not just whether there’s cash in the bank. Not whether we’ve had a good season. And not whether we’re doing things a bit better...
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# 197 - A Legal Perspective on Farm Succession - Pat Barrett, Walsh & Blair
Pat Barrett has spent nearly twenty years at Walsh & Blair, and before that he was playing regional rugby for the Wagga Waratahs, learning lessons about mateship, discipline, and common goals that he still leans on today when he sits across the table from farming families trying to navigate...
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# 196 - The Power of Aligning Your Family to a Clear, Common Goal, with FOA Coaches Elle Webb & Kerrie Smith
If a plan only lives in your head, no one else can help you make it happen. That's the line that sits at the heart of this conversation. Because so often on a family farm, there isn't one plan. There are two, or three, or four, each one living quietly inside a different family member's head, each...
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# 195 - Breeding Better, Building Smarter The Science of Genetic Gain with Dr Mark Ferguson, neXtgen Agri
What if the best investment you could make on your farm costs nothing extra to feed, never needs a day off, and compounds in value every single year? That's the case Dr Mark Ferguson has been making for 30 years. And the numbers back him up. Mark is a sheep geneticist turned ag tech founder who...
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# 194 - The Origin & Impact of the McGrath Foundation, with Co-founder Tracy Bevan
Some friendships change your life. This one changed Australia. When Tracy Bevan met Jane McGrath at an airport café in 1996, they were simply two British women far from home, trying to find their place in a new country while their husbands travelled the world playing cricket. What neither of them...
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# 193 - The 3 BIG Mistakes Grain Growers Are Making And What It’s Costing, with Market Check Leaders, Brett Stevenson & Nick Crundall
There’s an old saying that uncertainty creates opportunity. But if you're a grain grower right now, uncertainty can also create confusion, hesitation, and some pretty costly decisions. Over the past few years, we've seen massive swings in commodity prices, input costs, weather patterns, and…
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# 192 - The Incredible AgriWebb Story – Part 2 with Co-Founder, John Fargher
In Part 1, John Fargher took us back to the beginning, exploring the early days of AgriWebb and the farming families who backed a young ag tech company long before the rest of the industry could see what it would become. If you haven't listened to that one yet, we recommend starting there. In…
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# 191 - The Incredible AgriWebb Story – Part 1 with Co-Founder, John Fargher
John Fargher grew up on a remote family station in the Northern Flinders Ranges, where distance, drought, hard work and innovation were simply part of life. He saw first-hand how quickly farming can change. A station that once needed 40 people could later run with four or five. Horses gave way to...
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# 190 - Are Your Business Structures Impeding Your Farm Business’s Success? with Andy Fenton
A good season can hide a lot. So can a strong balance sheet. But performing well on the surface does not always mean the business is built on the right foundation. Risk builds quietly. Options narrow over time. And by the time most farm owners recognise it, they have less room to move than they...
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# 189 - Fertiliser & Fuel Prices: How to Lead Through This New Economic Uncertainty with Tracy Secombe & Sam Johnsson
Are you concerned by the uncertainty surrounding increased fuel prices? Is the current global turmoil challenging your view on how to best navigate this season? The biggest risk right now is not fuel, fertiliser, interest rates, or global instability. It's panic. Uncertainty has a way of…
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# 188 - Knowing Your Numbers How to Build A Stronger Farm Financial System with Jayne Walsh, Tim Fowler, Renee Nicholls, and Bec Balfour
This week, Sam Johnsson hijacks the podcast while I’m off on a skiing holiday in Austria and he takes on a topic that might not sound flashy, but can quietly change everything in a farm business: building a strong financial system. Because for a lot of farm owners, the numbers are still something...
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# 187 - Legacy Isn’t Land: Rethinking What Succession Success Looks Like with Mike Stephens
Selling the family farm can feel like the ultimate failure. For a lot of farming families, it can carry guilt, grief, and the sense that something precious has been lost. But Mike Stephens challenges that story head-on. Mike is the founder of Meridian Agriculture, one of Australia’s oldest and…
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# 186 - An Overheated Stock Market Crash in 2026? How to Get Ready with Terry Tran
As we step into 2026, there’s a lot of noise out there. Geopolitical tension. AI hype. Market highs. Media drama. And if you’re a farm owner trying to make steady, strategic decisions in the middle of a tight season… it can feel like one more thing to carry. In this episode, I sit down with my…
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#185 - From Farm Operator to Farm CEO with Ben & Kate Johns
What if the real constraint in your business isn’t effort, seasons, or skill, but the role you’re still stuck playing? For Ben and Kate, this question didn’t arrive neatly. It crept in over time. Their journey took them far from the farm first, through university, into investment banking in…
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# 184 - Out of the Shadows of Succession: Taking the Lead as a Family, with Simon and Naomi Goode
There comes a moment in every farm business where the question isn’t how much more can we do, it’s what do we actually want to build? For Simon and Naomi Goode, that moment came after years of doing everything: cropping, hay, livestock, all while raising four kids and managing 3,200 hectares in...
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# 183 - Scaling from Scratch: The Rise Behind Nala Agribusiness and Red Dirt Lamb with Lachlan & Anna Sutton
There comes a point when the late nights, the mental load, and the constant pressure make you wonder... how much longer can we keep doing this? Lachlan and Anna Sutton hit that point. Burnt out. Leasing land. Bucketing grain by hand while raising three young kids. Then something shifted. In this...
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# 182 - Out Of Survival Mode Burnout, Balance, and Breakthroughs with Andrew Graham
What if the hardest seasons in your business turned out to be the ones that set you free? In this deeply honest episode, Marina Gregor, one of our senior business coaches sits down with Andrew Graham, a cattle producer from southwest Victoria, to explore a powerful story of resilience, family…
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# 181 - The 3 Secret Killers of Family Farming Businesses Confusion, Control and Conflict, with Jeremy Hutchings
As we reach the business end of the season for many, this episode offers a quiet reflection on some of the deeper and important challenges showing up for farming families and their business teams right across the country. There’s no guest this time. Instead, I wanted to take a moment to share…
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# 180 - Leadership Lessons From Elite Rugby and Dairy Farming With Sam Whitelock
Sam Whitelock knows pressure. He’s captained the All Blacks through some of rugby’s most intense moments. He’s made high-stakes decisions with the weight of a nation on his shoulders. And now, he’s turned that same grit and composure to life on the farm. But here’s what Sam’s learned. Real...
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# 179 - Touring to 50+ FOA Farms Across Australia with Tim and Cheryl Freak
“You’re doing better than you think.” It’s the simple, powerful reminder that Tim and Cheryl Freak leave behind after every farm visit. In this episode, I sit down with two of our long-time FOA members and coaches, Tim and Cheryl, who have spent the past three years deeply embedded in our...
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# 178 - What Is The Future For? Wool Can It Survive? With Jamie & Will Swales
Australia’s wool sector is still feeling the pinch. There’s no doubt the last couple of years have been challenging, with recent decile two and three prices making it hard for many businesses to stay afloat. But despite these obstacles, the Swales of Woodlands set an example of resilience.…
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# 177 - Premium, High Marbling Lamb Is Here. With Tom Bull from LAMBPRO
After more than 15 years of focused breeding, data collection, and persistence, Tom Bull and his team at LAMBPRO have achieved what many thought was impossible: the creation of KS7, a Marble Score 7 lamb, developed in partnership with Meat & Livestock Australia, Endeavour Meats, and chef Matt...
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# 176 - Will Red Meat Prices Crash or Hold With Expert Analyst Simon Quilty
Australian cattle and lamb markets are at a tipping point. Prices have surged to record highs, but according to leading analyst Simon Quilty, we’re about to hit what he calls “unsustainable pricing.” Bringing over 30 years of hard-won market insight to the table, Simon Quilty has worked with top...
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# 175 - From Refugee To Financial Freedom - The Terry Tran Story
At just two years old, Terry Tran fled Vietnam by boat with his parents, was rescued after days lost at sea, and spent months on a Malaysian refugee island. It was there, on Christmas Eve, that a storm claimed his father’s life, leaving his 21-year-old mother widowed with a toddler to raise. From...
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# 174 - Nothing Beats High Prices like High Prices with Brett Stevenson, Market Check
In recent years grain growers nationally have enjoyed an extended period of strong prices and favourable market conditions. According to grain industry authority, Brett Stevenson, Managing Director of Market Check, this may well be all about to change. Of the back of last month’s Australian…
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# 173 - Beating Brain Cancer with Sam McGuane
From growing up on a dairy farm in western Victoria with 12 siblings to the frontlines of one of the toughest fights in medical research, Sam McGuane’s story is one of resilience, service, and hope. As the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of The Brain Cancer Centre, and a key leader behind...
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# 172 - How AI and ChatGPT Can Transform How You Operate as Farm Business Owners with Dimity Smith
When you wear as many hats as our farming families do, time is one thing you never have enough of. From the kitchen table to the paddock, we’re constantly making decisions, solving problems, and figuring out how to do more with less. What if there was a way to take some of that pressure off,...
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# 171 - The Value Of Getting Away From Your Farm For Inspiration And Clarity – lessons from a recent FOA client conference
I really values the constructs that: ‘you cannot solve the problem you have created in the environment in which you created it’… and ‘many minds make for smarter work’. What could you see more clearly if you took time with key decision-makers away from your farm? How many more options and…
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# 170 - How Demographics Can Shape Smarter Farm Decisions with Simon Kuestenmacher
What if the future isn’t something to fear but something we can prepare for, shape, and lead into with confidence? For Simon Kuestenmacher, understanding what’s ahead isn’t guesswork. It’s grounded in data, demography and deep thinking. As co-founder of The Demographics Group, Simon helps leaders...
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# 169 - Don’t Wait for a Crisis to Care — A Real Talk on Farm Safety with Rebecca Fing
What if we treated safety not as a box to tick, but as a culture to lead? For Rebecca Fing, this isn’t a theoretical question — it’s the heart of her life’s work. From her base in Goondiwindi, Rebecca and her team at House Paddock Training & Consulting have spent two decades helping farm families...
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# 168 - A Shout-Out to the Great Work of Agri-Entrepreneurs - The Wayne Perkinz Story
Every great innovation starts with a question — Could this be done better? For Wayne Perkins, that question came in a wool shed, with a busted back, and a view of shearing that hadn’t changed in a century. He wasn’t looking to build a business. He was looking to fix a problem. And in true...
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# 167 - Enrolling the next generation - the McArthur Family Story
Succession isn’t just a plan on paper — it’s a living, breathing conversation about legacy, leadership, and what we’re really passing on. And when it’s done well, it can strengthen not just the business, but the family behind it. This episode is a testament to that. Rob and Ainsley McArthur…
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# 166 - The TOP Producers Workshop: 10 Years In The Making
Now and then, you get the chance to pause, look back, and really take stock. And when that moment rolls around, it can be quietly powerful. That’s exactly what this episode is. A milestone. A moment. A celebration. This year marks 10 years of Farm Owners Academy, and I wanted to sit down with two...
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# 165 - Tariffs, Turbulence & Tough Decisions: How Farmers and Investors Can Navigate Economic Uncertainty
The markets are rattled. The headlines are loud. And for farmers trying to plan ahead, it’s starting to feel a bit like trying to build a fence in shifting sand. That’s exactly why, in this episode of Profitable Farmer, I’ve invited back our trusted investment specialist, Terry Tran from Freedom...
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# 164 - Work Harder On Yourself Than You Do In Your Business
Let’s be honest - running a farm can feel like a never-ending list of things to do. The sun comes up, and we’re off… chasing the day, solving problems, making it all happen. But here’s the question we’re leaning into on this episode: What if the biggest breakthrough for your business isn’t out...
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# 163 - Is your greatest opportunity buried inside your toughest season? with Jeff McDonald, RLS Agribusiness
As we reset for 2025, many are feeling the weight of a brutal 2024. And to be completely honest — when you're staring down a decile one year, it’s hard to know where to start. How do you budget with confidence? How do you front up to your bank when the season doesn’t go your way? So here is the...
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# 162 - Vital Leadership Lessons Learned on the Battlefield - with Paul Ainsworth, Lincoln Institute
Where have you learned leadership? On the farm? In a day job? Inherited perhaps? For most, NONE have learned the vital art and science of leadership. It is a learned skill. One we can all commit to and master. One we all need to be successful in life and business, and in succeeding in the pursuit...
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# 161 - How Grower Groups Are Making an Impact with Pippa Jones from Macintyre Ag Alliance
Running a farm comes with its fair share of challenges, and it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day. But some of the biggest opportunities for growth come from stepping outside our own operations, connecting with others, and learning from those facing similar challenges. Stronger businesses,...
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#160 - The Impact of FOA On-Farm Visits - With Tim & Cheryl Freak
If something happened to you tomorrow, would your farm keep running? Would your team know what to do? Would your business continue to operate, or does it all rely on you? It’s one of those things we don’t like to think about, but it’s critical — not just for succession planning or long-term…
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# 159 - Rebuilding a Farm Business Against All Odds with Matt & Hayley Watson
Farming is a beautiful and rewarding way of life, but as we know, it comes with its fair share of risks—some that we prepare for and others that shake us to the core. In this episode, we dive into an extraordinary story of resilience, resourcefulness, and reinvention as we sit down with Matt and...
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# 158 - Transforming Farming Success Through Simplification, Strategy, and Support with FOA Coaches
Today, we’re diving into a cracker of a conversation with three of our incredible FOA business coaches—Rick Morris, Marina Gregor, and Jack Owen. They not only run their own successful farming enterprises but also help guide others in our FOA community to achieve remarkable results. In this...
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# 157 - Business Model, Scaling, Benchmarking, and Navigating Tough Times with Sam Johnsson
As we near the end of another whirlwind year, it’s a chance to reflect, reset, and recharge. The festive season brings its own flurry of busyness, but before we all step into some well-deserved downtime, I wanted to bring you a conversation packed with insight and inspiration to help you wrap up...
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# 156 - Leadership Lessons from Cameron Schwab: Insights on Courage, Resilience, and Building Teams that Thrive
Today’s conversation is one of those deep dives into leadership, resilience, and navigating the complexities of life—whether that’s on the farm, in the boardroom, or out on the footy field. Joining me is Cameron Schwab, a man who, at just 24, stepped into the CEO role of an elite AFL club, and…
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# 155 - The Personal Development Journey: Embracing Growth, Emotion, and Abundance with Tracy Secombe
Often, the journey of personal development can be misunderstood or even dismissed- many might view it as unnecessary or even indulgent. As we explore in this episode, it is not about ‘fixing’ yourself or chasing perfection… it’s about choosing who you want to become, letting go of old stories…
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# 154 - Unlocking New Capital To Transform Farming Assets The GO.FARM Story
I have heard it said that “doing a traditional thing in a traditional industry may no longer be relevant.” I have also heard it said that the point of entrepreneurship is to “create a legacy”…. that is to create something that makes an impact of significance in the market, that will last beyond...
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# 153 - High-Performance in Farming - Marcus Oldham and Marcus Minds with Tim McGavin
In this episode, I speak with Tim McGavin, Founder and Managing Director of Laguna Bay, one of the largest privately owned agricultural investment funds globally. Reflecting on his farming background and extensive career, we explore life growing up on a station west of Barcaldine, QLD alongside…
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# 152 - Mastering Off-Farm Wealth Creation: Strategic Market Moves with Terry Tran
As always, it is great to speak with Terry Tran and get an update on what is happening across our economy and the global investment landscape. In this episode, and 6 months after our last update from Terry, we cover all things interest rates, inflation, commodities outlooks, exchange rates and...
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# 151 - Bringing Young, Passionate Talent onto Your Farm, with Chloe Smart-AgCareerStarts
We all have a role to play in inspiring our next generation of farmers – now there is a compelling program and pathway to make this happen. In this episode, Hutch speaks with Chloe Smart, Training and Career Development Coordinator at AgCareerStarts. As Chloe explains, AgCareerStarts provides...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
This show is all about increasing the profitability of your farm so you work smarter and not harder. Your host, Andrew Roberts from the Farm Owners Academy reveals the best farming business tips for more leverage in your farm business.
HOSTED BY
Farm Owners Academy
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Profitable Farmer have?
Profitable Farmer currently has 201 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Profitable Farmer about?
This show is all about increasing the profitability of your farm so you work smarter and not harder. Your host, Andrew Roberts from the Farm Owners Academy reveals the best farming business tips for more leverage in your farm business.
How often does Profitable Farmer release new episodes?
Profitable Farmer publishes regularly with 201 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to Profitable Farmer on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Profitable Farmer?
Profitable Farmer is created and hosted by Farm Owners Academy.
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