Joe Druce

Exploring various capital options to unlock sustainable business growth

With livestock farmers at the mercy of fluctuating markets – all the while trying to turn a profit amid increasing costs - Joe Druce from Baynton, Victoria plans to study how various capital options can enable sustainable business growth in the mixed livestock sector.

Joe receives a Nuffield Scholarship with support from The William Buckland Foundation.

Working on-farm with his wife’s parents, Joe manages their mixed livestock enterprise focusing on grazing a self-replacing Merino and crossbred sheep flock.

They’ve recently introduced a breeding cow herd turning off feeder weight steers.

With pressures on cost of production in livestock farming, Joe said there has been a direct impact on retaining profits to expand livestock businesses both internally and externally.

Because of this, he is drawn to study the varying capital options available for a business to expand – be it debt funded, leasing, share farming or private equity arrangements.

“Through previous employment, I have seen the ability of cropping operations to expand at a greater rate than those of livestock operations,” Joe said.

“Livestock farming, namely sheep farming, is labour intensive and therefore incurs a higher labour cost per unit of output in comparison to our cropping counterparts.

“The outcomes of the research could allow for livestock farmers to understand the effect of economies of scale on their ability to grow their businesses. However, generating the initial economies of scale is the key issue smaller businesses are facing that may relate back to their enterprise mix and the capital options made available to them.”

Joe plans to visit both well-established and emerging livestock producing countries like Argentina, Uruguay, New Zealand, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.