Xero + Figured at Fieldays 2019

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We’re excited to be headed back to Fieldays for Xero and Figured’s fifth year together – and what looks to be the best one yet. One of our favourite things about Fieldays is the opportunity to chat to hundreds of farmers and agri professionals. We always come away more informed.

Farming is a tough business. Kiwi farmers, and farmers around the world for that matter, are required to wear a wide range of hats, covering everything from environmental planning, animal health, pasture management, human resources and financial management. The success of their businesses is subject to weather, environment regulation, global trade decisions and public opinion.

It’s a rewarding lifestyle and most farmers who we talk to wouldn’t give it up for the world, but there’s no doubting it’s tough and at times stressful.

With so much to do, Kiwi farmers are constantly looking for technology which does as much of the heavy lifting for them as possible.

Letting technology do the heavy lifting

National Fieldays was started in 1968 by a small group of Waikato farmers who wanted a forum to share their innovations, and share ideas on how to be more efficient and effective in how they used their land. The technology in 1968 was a little different, but the idea was the same – farmers look to technology to help them farm.

Figured and Xero is the perfect example of this. For farmers, the books have historically been something which gets looked at irregularly and only once everything else is under control. Financial decisions have been either based on instinct or through a lengthy process of information gathering and backdating.

Figured and Xero changes this by combining real time financial information with farm production data, in an online system, which can be accessed by any of a farmers financial stakeholders and advisors.

This means that a farm’s financial plan is always kept up to date, and the farming team can get a picture of current and forecast financial position at the click of a button. With easy access to the financial plan and the support of their advisors, farmers are far better positioned to respond to changing conditions. For example, a Xero and Figured farmer can very quickly assess the impact of a revised milk payout price, and make decisions as to how they’ll respond quickly and with confidence, making calls on financing, production planning or infrastructure with ease.

Financial sustainability through better decisions

At Fieldays this year we’re talking about sustainability – of the environment, the community, the mind and of your finances. We believe that helping farmers and their team gain better clarity of their financial position is key to the sustainability of the farm. And that by making decisions with better information and input from their advisors will help today’s farmers ensure the farm can be passed on to the next generation in great shape.

When the whole farming team is working from the same set of numbers and making good decisions together, plans can be made which look further into the future and variables which could throw a farm off course are much easier to manage.

With only a week to go before Fieldays, the Figured team are getting excited to once again join the Xero team to talk sustainability in farming. We’ll have our whole Customer Success team, so come on by for a coffee and a chat.

By Chris Vanderkolk, Head of Marketing at Figured.

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