Canadian Food Business
Ontario farmers and processors have a new tool to measure current business performance and help build an action plan for greater success.
The Agricultural Management Institute’s (AMI) Business Score Card is an online business assessment tool developed for farmers and processors to help them to identify business management strengths, weaknesses and gaps; develop action plans to improve business management performance; and provide clear direction towards resources that can help their business.
“The Business Score Card will deliver great benefits for farmers and processors,” said Ryan Koeslag, AMI executive director. “It will help them gain a greater understanding of their business strengths and weaknesses; help assess current systems, knowledge and skills; and prioritize areas for improvement.”
Participants are required to answer a short series of questions on 10 different business management focus areas. These focus areas include: strategy/leadership, customers/markets, production, suppliers, finances, information systems, people, risks, responsibilities and succession planning.
In addition, the tool prompts users to create an action plan for each business area to help them address any management gaps that have been identified. It takes about 30 minutes to complete the assessment.
When completed, participants instantly receive a report detailing the assessment results, priority rankings, action plans and recommended resources based on the identified priorities and opportunities for improvement.
“We believe it can have a bottom line impact. It will help farmers and processors achieve better efficiency and profitability,” added Koeslag.
