Episode 190 - Are Your Business Structures Impeding Your Farm Business’s Success? with Andy Fenton

A good season can hide a lot. So can a strong balance sheet. But performing well on the surface does not always mean the business is built on the right foundation. 

Risk builds quietly. Options narrow over time. And by the time most farm owners recognise it, they have less room to move than they thought. 

In this episode, Jeremy sits down with Andy Fenton, Managing Director of Fenton Financial, who brings more than 20 years of experience across financial planning, funds management and investment banking, to unpack a confronting but important idea: 

It can be our business structures that kill our farm businesses. 

Not all at once. Not dramatically. But over time, through outdated structures, poor protection, limited leverage, unnecessary tax inefficiency, and too much control sitting with the bank.  

Andy explains why so many farming businesses are still operating in structures that were inherited, kept because they were simple, or never reviewed as the business grew. He talks through what can go wrong when land, machinery and trading operations are tied together in the wrong way, and why that can leave farming families more exposed than they realise.  

We cover: 

• why outdated structures can quietly hold a farm business back  

• the risks of having land and trading activities sitting together  

• how tax averaging and poor structuring can limit flexibility  

• why banks can gain too much control when security is not set up well  

• how better structures can improve protection, succession and wealth creation  

We often see farming families operating in structures that no longer fit the business. That’s why conversations with specialists such as Andy matter. While Farm Owners Academy is not an accounting firm, we help members ask better questions, think more strategically, and strengthen the business behind the farm through the deeper support available in our 3-year comprehensive Platinum Mastermind program.

If this episode has raised questions about how your business is structured, you can learn more about Andy and his work at https://fentonfinancial.com.au/

Andy, thank you for bringing a clear and commercially grounded perspective to how structure, tax and leverage can shape the level of risk, control and succession in a farm business. 

Till next time, 
Jeremy Hutchings & The Farm Owners Academy Team 

P.S. The next constraint isn’t always production, it can be structure. The right setup can protect what you’ve built and give you more options for what comes next. This is exactly the kind of conversation we go deeper into at TOP Producers. If you’re ready to look beyond production and start strengthening the structure underneath your business, you can find out more here.