A powerhouse couple driving business success

Mary-Anne and Peter White are a dynamic duo, underpinning a successful farm business.

Risk appetite in farming is a very personal preference, and over the past 25 years Victoria’s Peter and Mary-Anne White have strategically balanced their opposing comfort levels to grow an efficient and scaled farm business.  

While Mary-Anne admits she’s always a ‘gung-ho yes’ when it comes to farm expansion, Peter takes a more cautious approach, however the continued escalation of land values has been a concern of his for some time.

“We had an initial 400 hectares on our home farm, and I just couldn’t see a future in it, and I knew the cost/price squeeze was only going to get worse, so we needed scale to circumvent that.” 

“At some stage every business just needs to dive in, and I’m grateful Mary-Anne gave me the push to dive-in when we did – land prices in this region have increased eight-fold over the past 25 years, and I don’t know how possible it would be to grow a business like this now,” Peter reflects.

The significant White family farming legacy also underpins ambition, with Peter’s forefathers selecting their Yarrawonga property in 1873.

“The Whites have been farming on Whites Road for 150 years,” Peter explains. “I began farming with my parents over 40 years ago, and they gave Mary-Anne and I the opportunity to continue farming. Likewise, we would like to enable the next gen, Charlotte 22, and Henry 21, to continue farming here – if, and only if – that is what they want to do.”

A prosperous partnership

A dynamic partnership built on mutual respect, trust, and leveraging their individual strengths, Peter is hands-on in the paddock, while Mary-Anne works behind the scenes.
 

Mary-Anne and Peter White, a partnership for prosperity.

“Peter is a really good farmer,” Mary-Anne smiles. “I enjoy working on the day-to-day accounting, the compliance, the HR – all the background tasks required so that he can focus on his strength, which is in the paddock and working with people.”

While Mary-Anne didn’t grow up amongst agriculture, Peter believes this ‘semi-detached eye’ is hugely valuable.

“It’s important to spend time on your business not just in it, and like many farmers I often don’t get that opportunity, yet Mary-Anne looks at the whole picture,” Peter explains. “If there’s new machinery that could make us money long-term, I may be deterred by the initial cost – I miss looking at the big picture because I’m thinking of the dollars.”

And Mary-Anne has learnt that sometimes sharing less detail is better when it comes to focussing on their shared vision for the business.

“I know Peter gets frustrated that I don’t give him all the details when things aren’t so positive, but I feel confident carrying that information so that he can make on-farm decisions based on good agronomic practices, rather than costs.”

Business growth for a strong future 

Operating a broadacre dryland cropping business, the Whites currently own 2,308ha and lease a further 352ha.

The couple exited their sheep operation just over two years ago to concentrate on cropping.

“The market for grain is more evolved, in wool/sheep, the market can drop 30 percent in a matter of weeks, that’s happened three times in my lifetime, whereas grain traded on a world market may go up and down, yet it’s more fluid,” Peter says.

The couple continues to pursue profitability through improved efficiencies – they retain stubble and farm in it, have updated their machinery fleet to match their size, and have shifted from peas or lupins for nitrogen fixing to faba beans – which are more saleable.

“It’s these little percentage gains that drive improved numbers each year, we’re not reinventing the wheel, we’re just continually increasing efficiencies, which translates into profitability,” Mary-Anne says.

Strong relationships for a strong business 

While Mary-Anne and Peter’s strong partnership underlines their prosperity, the couple also credit their relationship with their Rabobank manager, Kate Hemphill out of the Shepparton branch, as key to business success.
 

Mary-Anne and Peter with their Rabobank manager, Kate Hemphill.

“The relationship between ourselves and our manager is crucial to us, and particularly over the past ten years since the Banking Royal Commission,” Peter explains.

“The time lag between a credit application when looking to acquire more land is becoming greater, and there are so many hurdles banks need to jump through – you can very easily miss an opportunity – so having a manager like Kate who is so well-versed in our affairs all the time is imperative.”

The Whites believe Kate’s greatest asset is her farming background, and ability to understand the business vision and ‘the story you’re trying to tell’, and how Rabobank can support that story.

“Kate understands our goals, and how we can get what we need over the line – she asks us what we want, rather than tells us what we need,” Peter says.

The All In One product is another aspect of Rabobank the Whites value.

“The All In One gives us a lot more freedom and opportunity to take advantage of debt, for example we can pay it down if it’s good for the business including minimising tax, or just pay interest in the leaner years, we are able to actively manage our interest rates,  fixing  versus variable.”

“The All In One account allows us to manage all the balls in the finance juggle better.”

Rabobank’s Financial Skills Workshops is another opportunity that Mary-Anne embraced, despite her extensive accounting background.

“This workshop was extremely well done, and its strength is in its targeted information for farm businesses,” she says.

“I did the workshop because I may have the knowledge, but I always need a bit of help applying it to our farm business, and this course really reinvigorated me, and also opened my eyes to what other businesses are doing, which is always enlightening.”

The take-away workbook has been a valuable asset, as has the networking opportunity.

“As family farmers we do the job to the best of our ability, and our ability is good, however we don’t often get to network with other like-minded people, and whether it’s a Financial Skills Workshop or a RaboResearch presentation on the RaboTruck, the social interaction and learning from others is a huge opportunity Rabo facilitates.”

With business acumen, genuine passion, and physical work ethic, the Whites exemplify how a balanced, long-term approach drives success, and sets this historic operation up for an even stronger future.