Farm Pitching Template

Cultivate Farms

What is the Farm Pitching Template?

This document provides the framework for an aspiring farmer to pitch 1. an investment proposition and 2. their own capacity to deliver returns to investors.

Please complete your version of a Farm Pitchand submit it to Cultivate Farms, so you can access investment opportunities through our network ( ).

Cultivate Farms will review your proposal and help you to improve and give it the best chance of success.

You do not need to pitch your farm proposal in person, the focus is solely on a written proposal.

Should I get help?

Yes. To improve your chances of a successful pitch, you should engage a professional adviser to assist you develop your pitch.The intent is not for you to employ a consultant to write this for you. Investors want to know that you have what it takes to pull a proposal together and subsequently run a successful farm. However, advisors should be used to guide you and to help finalise the pitch before it is submitted. Cultivate Farms also have access to a network of professional advisers who can assist.

What else should I do?

To improve your opportunities, you should also make a brief video (2-5 minutes)introducing yourself, the farm you are seeking investor support to purchase, and how you intend to generate returns. It doesn’t need to be hi-tech – something produced on your mobile is fine.

Submission

Send your final draft to the Cultivate Farms team to review and work on a plan of attack to get this in front of the right investors ()

1.Summary of proposition

This is a short summary of your investment proposal, to give potential investors and/or retiring farmers an overview of what you are proposing to achieve.

It is worth tackling this section last, after you have completed more detailed sections, and can summarise them effectively.

You should include the following:

Proposed farm for purchase and management

  • In brief, what is the farm you are proposing to use investment funds to acquire?
  • Keep the details for later, just outline key features such as location(s), size (hectares and acres) and enterprise mix.

Investment proposal

  • In brief, what type of agreement are you proposing?
  • Again, keep the details for later, just outline how much funding you are seeking and under what type of agreement returns will be paid.

Here is an example table you can use:

Farmer name(s)
Farm size
Farm location
Farm total price
Investment sought
Enterprise mix
Preferred investment option / Be as specific and simplified as possible:
e.g. equity split: 20% aspiring farmer, 20% retiring farmer, 20% debt and 40% investor
Predicted return on investment
Aspiring Farmer summary about the farm opportunity and why it is a great opportunity / Why are you confident in this farm and your ability to make it a success?

The Big 6

We have determined from investors that there are 6 key factors (the Big 6) which provide enough information to determine if the proposal will meet their requirements.

The Big 6 are critical to the success of your pitch and ultimately of the farm operation. Each of the Big 6 will be covered in your proposal below, however, use this space to summarise how you will address each.

1.Climate/water

What is the climate and rainfall? If it is unreliable, how are you going to reduce the risk of droughts on your operations? Develop a scenario of the worst season and how you will be able to get through and still provide a return for the investor (i.e. water supply, cash flow)?

2.Scale.

Is the farm of a size that will make it profitable? Justify why and if not, what will you do to ensure it can be profitable, or will you be looking to buy further land adjacent?

3.Land value
Justify why the price of the land is good value. It can’t be over priced. What have you done to reduce the price and what could be done to reduce it further? i.e. would vendors retain equity and stay in to be a part of the uplift?
4.Soil

Get soil tests taken or find results from the vendor. You need to justify why the soils are good quality for the farming system you plan to operate and if they aren’t, how you are going to improve it.
5.Market volatility

What happens when prices for your produce drop out? How secure are your markets? How are you working to improve the prices you received? Where do you need help with this and what would this help look like?

6.Value angles

What is the angle of this farm and about you that will make this opportunity really jump off the page to the investor? If you are promoting a farm operation that is standard, then your pitch is basically going to be able getting scale to make it profitable, which may not be possible for this proposal you have. In short, you need to highlight that you are an entrepreneurial farmer.

Here are some ideas to help you determine yours and the farm’s value angle:

  • What differentiates you from other farmers? What farming methods will you adopt that will see a production jump in the farm?
  • Will you be able to re-zone the farm in time and therefore a land value increase is on the card?
  • Will you dramatically improvethe crops or improve soil health?
  • Is there a new abattoir coming to town which will improve value and profitability of farms in the region?
  • Are you able to secure the land for well under market value?
  • Do you have the retiring farmer on board who is going to retain a large portion of equity and transfer knowledge?
  • Are you jumping on the back of a tourism boom in the region?
  • Do you have an insatiable passion and demonstrated skills that will just make this work?
  • Are you bringing a farming operation from another farm that you know will work?
  • Have you stitched most of the investment and just need an investor to come and fill a small gap?
  • Do you have an amazing market opportunity where the demand for the produce is high?
  • Is there a niche market you can tap?
  • Is there a supply chain advantage at your location?
  • Is there superior capital growth prospects?

2.Farming capabilities and experience

You will need to outline a case for why your farming capabilities and experience are attractive to potential investors, who will have many options to choose from.

This is a pitch to investors – what are the qualities that make you stand outas someone who will run a profitable farming business and deliver the financial returns they seek?

Be bold in outlining your skills. You need to be able to promote yourself as the best candidate for an investor to back. You are providing them an amazing opportunity to work with the best in people (let alone farmers) in Australia.

About you

  • Name(s), age(s), family, where you’re from, where you live now, etc.

Your experience

  • Outline your previous professional experience, focussing on those roles most relevant to farming.
  • Feel free to include university accomplishments or leadership roles you’ve taken on. Investors will be looking for people who work hard and show initiative.
  • Outline what you are doing to become a high-class farmer that will help you to succeed with this investment opportunity.

Relevant skills

•What are your farming skills?

•What skills are you currently seeking to acquire? Explain what you’re trying to do to improve your skills and relevance to investors?

•What would you obtain assistance with? What are the gaps in your skills set and how would the farm business you run seek to fill those gaps?

You don’t need to make the case that you possess every skill relevant to managing a farm business.

You do need to present a strong skill set in one or more key areas, such as agronomy, livestock management, or business and financial disciplines.

However, just as important is the self-awareness good businesspeople have about the support network they need around them. Articulating what complementary skills you need, and how they can be accessed cost effectively, will be critical to your success with investors.

Video

To really promote yourself, we highly encourage you to create a 2-5 minute video summarising your farming experience, introducing your family, describing the farm and your hopes for the property. This will be a powerful way to connect yourself with any potential investor.

It doesn’t need to be fancy. Use your phone and film it in your kitchen. You would have basic editing software on your phone or computer which can edit this into a basic 2-5 minute package.

You can either load onto YouTube and supply the link, or save into a DropBox folder and provide the link in your pitch.

3.The proposed acquisition

This is the section in which you outline details about the farm you wish to purchase.

It could be a specific farm currently on the market, or a farm held by a retiring farmer that you would like to take on.

If there is no specific property being suggested, indicate what type of acquisition would suit your business proposal and then clarify your intent for this pitch. It could be that you believe you have the skills to run a successful farm and you want to build a relationship with potential investors who could back you onto a suitable farm opportunity into the future.

Farm characteristics

  • Location, scale, infrastructure, soil type and condition, rainfall
  • Include enough information to indicate you are someone that has an eye for detail, as this will create a positive impression about your competence.
  • For a specific property, include photos of the house, pasture, infrastructure, landscape, biodiversity features, etc. We recommend you create a DropBox folder for these, instead of including in the proposal and provide a link to view.
  • Opportunity for productive improvement, particularly soil health.
  • Outline what are the biodiversity values are of the property as many investors want to ensure they are improving land health.

Farm location

  • You need to convince the investor why this location in Australia is a good place to invest into farming rather than others. Is it about better capital growth, or the best place to grow the produce, or the farm has good capacity to improve production?

Future requirements

  • How much future investment will be required to upgrade any deficiencies in the property?
  • Include here things like remediating soil quality/land degradation, native vegetation, farm layout, infrastructure upgrades, etc.
  • Clarify if these improvements will form part of your pitch, or will be improvements that you and the investor can determine to make over time.

Historical data

  • What historical data is available about this farm?
  • If possible, re-produce historical farm performance data relating to crop yield, fertiliser use, financial returns, etc.
  • If not, articulate what you will be doing to generate a baseline for future data capture to underpin good decision-making into the future.

Land price and value

•What is the farm’s price relative to previous market results?

•What would you be prepared to pay and why should an investor be prepared to pay this much?

•What could you do to negotiate a better price for the farm? i.e. would the vendor retain equity if they could see an upside in the business if you take over?

•Do some research about land prices in that area to see where your proposed acquisition fits. If prepared to pay above market indications, provide a short explanation of why there is strategic value in the acquisition (covered in the next section).

4.Prospective operations

In this section, explain to potential investors how you intend to manage the farm profitably.

This is your opportunity to demonstrate the strategic planning capabilities, production knowledge, understanding of markets, and financial management skills you will bring to the investor.

You don’t need to come up with all this information by yourself. Use your own ideas, but get help if you need it. Your ability to apply new information and knowledge gained from other people is still a demonstration of what you can deliver.

The key to your proposal succeeding will be providing a ‘value angle’ for the investor. What is going to make your option more profitable than other proposals, and able to out-compete other buyers of that land in the market?

If you aren’t proposing a large-scale acquisition to create business efficiencies, what are you doing differently that will generate returns for investors? Is there a niche market you can tap? Or a supply chain advantage at your location? Or a change of use opportunity? Or superior capital growth prospects? Can you improve the productive capacity of the farm at a cost that will provide superior returns?

Investors will want to see a case as to why your proposal is a better option than others they are considering, and why it is worth paying more than the rest of the market for that piece of land.

Farm plan

•Outline yourstrategic plans for the farm (5 years).

•For example, what is the farming system/enterprise mix being proposed and why?

•Are there plans to further expand or diversify production in the future, and in what circumstances would this occur?

•How will you incorporate biodiversity into the everyday operations of the farm?Most investors want to ensure they are improve farm health and Cultivate Farms need to ensure we are supporting farms that are doing good for the land and are well looked after. This could include protecting waterways, creating vegetation corridors, identifying how your farm could for a link between neighbouring biodiversity/forests, and building soil biology.

•Identify if there are other ways that you plan to value-add for the farm. It may be useful to indicate to the investor that you are open to other farm operations and are willing to diversify (e.g. niche crops, farm tourism, carbon trading, vegetation offsets). Provide a basic and outline and clarify that this is just to indicate potential options.

Operational processes

•Provide an overview of how your farm plan would be executed.

•How would the farming system operate throughout the season?

•How would data capture and use be managed?

•What marketing strategies would be used?

•What marketing edge do you have that will ensure a good price for produce?

•Would machinery needs be purchased, leased, or contractors used?

•How would financial management be undertaken?

•Do you have a plan for managing compliance with various legal requirements?

•What are your likely staffing requirements?

Business governance and reporting

•Describe the mechanisms you will have in place to ensure sound decision-making and accountability.

•What is the intended governance structure of the business?

•What is the proposed decision-making process for key strategic decisions?

•Who will be involved in reaching these decisions?

•What external expertise will be used?

•How will you undertake financial reporting to investors?

Again, it is important to demonstrate an ability to delve into the details of how your farm business will operate by addressing each of these questions. Each question doesn’t require a long answer, but these issues should be covered in your proposal.

Investors will want to see evidence of your capability to engage with key business details to have confidence in making the investment.

5.Financial projections

Investors will also want to get a sense of what returns the farm is likely to generate, and the evidence for the assumptions behind these projections.

Unless you have specific experience in developing this type of information, we would recommend you seek professional assistance with this task, however, again you should be taking the lead. Over time you should become an expert in developing and assessing farm investment opportunities. This may just be your first crack at it.

Investors want to know how much funding you need, what returns it will generate, that you won’t run into cash flow problems, and that you understand how to manage your financial risks.

Financial projections

•What are the budgeted capital requirements and ongoing operational expenses of the farm?

•What is the anticipated operational profitability of each enterprise across various seasonal and marketing scenarios?

•What is the anticipated capital growth of the asset?

•How will these outcomes affect future debt funding arrangements?

You should include a basic summary of your financial projections within the proposal and attach a more detailed spreadsheet. If you don’t know how to develop this we recommend you have a chat to a farming accountant or farm advisor to guide you through.