Indicators of success

March 2010 | Prepared by John Wilton and Ross Wilson, AgFirst | Future Orchards® Orchard Walk notes and presentation

“Indicators of success” uses Future Orchards® Orchard Business Analysis and Monitor Block data to identify the characteristics associated with stronger Australian pipfruit businesses. The authors define the upper quartile by cash orchard surplus per hectare and use that group as a benchmark for comparing revenue, production and costs.

The data show that higher-performing orchards generated substantially more revenue and cash operating surplus, while unit orchard-gate and post-harvest costs were similar to the average group. Upper-quartile businesses spent more per hectare on activities such as pruning, thinning and harvesting, but higher yields and fruit value meant those costs did not translate into higher unit costs.

The resource reinforces a key Future Orchards® message: orchard profitability is driven by productive canopies, marketable yield, fruit value and attention to detail rather than simply by minimising expenditure. It provides growers with practical benchmarks for assessing whether individual blocks and the wider business are performing at a competitive level.