A&P Show over for another year

What a relief – the Warkworth A&P Show took place last Saturday, closely following the horrendous terrorist attack on Muslims in Christchurch, without adverse weather, traffic jams or any other problems. As I have written in Farmers Weekly previously, the annual A&P Show inevitably comes to a head on one day in the year, demanding careful planning, hard work and more than a bit of luck.

Advertisement

Finding the balance between long and short term

Every business has to find an appropriate balance between long and short term planning and farming is no exception. But, given farmers are very capable of planning and implementing their annual farm strategy, the long term offers the greater challenge. Forward planning involves a high degree of risk assessment, because decisions must take into account several critical factors over which the farmer has little or no control.