Angus Moore and Mark Morton share a relationship spanning more than 20 years. Beginning when Mark was the family bank manager, the relationship evolved throughout Mark’s career with the adoption of farm software from his time with Practical Systems. The conversation between Angus’s father and Mark continued through consulting as Agribusiness Concepts became the new focus. 

Some years ago, the Moore family sought professional services to facilitate their succession plan. They approached a number of people, with their first experience resulting in disaster due to a lack of care from their consultant at the time. This put Angus’s parents off the idea of developing a succession plan for a number of years before taking the leap to start the progress again slowly with another consultant. Once they gained an understanding of succession planning and the processes involved, the Moore’s started to wonder “is this more simple than what these people are trying to do?” 

They sought the guidance of their trusted friend and consultant, Mark, whose personality they find good for their farming business.

“Mark is very direct. Our family makes good decisions, but we take a long time to make them. We worked together with Mark on our succession plan, and he provided suggestions and ideas for us that allowed our family to form our own model under his guidance. Where Mark differed in assisting us with our succession planning was that he understands that every family has different needs. The approach that works for us won’t work for our neighbours.” 

Running a mixed farming operation at Nowley Pastoral Co, Angus farms beef cattle and runs irrigated crops on rotation with the likes of cotton and various grains such as faba beans and chickpeas, as well as wheat. Mixed farming affords Angus the ability to keep an eye out for threats to their farm and how they might approach them, seeking guidance from Mark where necessary. 

One of the biggest concerns Angus has in business moving forward is employment. “There is so much involved with getting it right and it’s at the forefront of our minds.” Mark has been key in providing guidance on employee situations and finding new recruits. Angus finds the most value in his regular conversations and meetings with Mark saying “he keeps me on my toes. I like doing the day-to-day stuff but it’s much bigger than that now. It’s an important business and Mark not only reminds me that I need to prioritise the things I don’t like, but also assists me by way of suggestions in completing the task at hand.” 

For those interested in working with Agribusiness Concepts, Angust says “Mark has a good way of challenging you to think about things differently. The best thing he ever did, after 20 years with us, was sit in a chaser bin during harvest and see how we work and how I manage people. It really helped the relationship and was valuable for both of us, creating a shared understanding of how we do certain things. I don’t know many consultants that would do that.”