Data integration and your 2022 budget – Figured and Agworld

With the exponential growth of digital technologies occurring within agricultural systems, farmers have more data and insights at their fingertips than ever before.

Having a single source of truth with standardised data across multiple applications allows for more collaboration between farmers and their advisers.

This not only reduces the need for isolated data being kept on spreadsheets and paper, but most importantly, allows farmers to make sound management decisions for their business with their own data easily.

Farm budgeting for 2022 and beyond should now be a priority. With record commodity prices and seasonal variations impacting on yields, and harvest returns coupled with major disruptions in global supply chains that are seeing forecast input prices at record highs, drawing on the experiences of recent years to plan ahead will be challenging.

New Government Stimulus Measures introduced in early 2020 have resulted in increased demand for farm machinery, which is set to continue with the recent extension of the Temporary Instant Asset Write-Off to 30 June 2023. The resulting tax implications of these measures will be evident in 2022 and 2023.

The long-awaited integration between farm management software Agworld and farm financial management software Figured is a major step towards greater on-farm data management, and is the result of what many farmers have been asking for – easy access to their data in one place.

What does a fully integrated budget look like for 2022?

Today’s modern farmers use Xero to manage their business and farm finances.

Xero provides business owners with bank feeds and cashbook functions that can be used for a variety of purposes, including lodgement of business activity statements, full payroll management, and paperless data entry of invoices through the use of Hubdoc.

Figured directly integrates with Xero and allows the farmer and their advisers to not only set an initial budget, but to then monitor and adapt that budget throughout the year with live updates coming through from the connected Xero cashbook. Tracking livestock numbers throughout the year, production margins on crops and having the ability to plan a scenario for up to ten years ahead are just some of the tools available with Figured.

Agworld is used by farmers and their agronomists to plan for the coming seasons. With standard products and data being entered into Agworld and information feeding through from machine monitors, once a paddock plan is in place, this can be imported directly into Figured and used as the basis for forecasting next season’s crop.

Accountants and advisers provide expertise and insights into the farm budgeting process both at budget time and throughout the year as situations change, or as major business decisions are being contemplated.

Having a fully integrated software stack that is up to date and relevant enables decision-making using real-time data and reduces the need to manually re-enter data. An ultimate single source of truth for the business owners, their financiers, and their advisers.

Looking to learn more?

Get in touch with your local RSM office to discuss all things digital farm finance and farm budgeting today.