The Victorian regional manager of fast-growing Australian agriculture company Excel Farms has taken out this year's Rabobank 'Dr John Morris' Business Development Prize from a field of some of Australia's and New Zealand's leading farmers.
A "comprehensive and forward-thinking strategic plan, delivering strategies to take the business to the next level" earned Caroline McGrath the prestigious trans-Tasman business prize, which is awarded annually as part of the Rabobank Executive Development Program (EDP).
Ms McGrath was among 29 progressive Australian and New Zealand primary producers graduating from the program in 2025.
Ms McGrath, who is based in south-west Victoria, is a regional manager with Excel Farms, an agriculture company with a diverse range of properties located across Australia. Excel Farms has a portfolio of agricultural assets producing grains and red meat.
In addition to her professional responsibilities, Ms McGrath resides on and leases a family-owned sheep and cattle property, at Powers Creek, where she manages a first-cross ewe and Angus cattle-breeding operation.
The winning business plan – which Ms McGrath developed as a management project while undertaking the EDP – aimed to "assist and drive the implementation of clear business strategic initiatives both at a company level as well as assisting individual farm managers with their own farm's strategic plans and goal setting".
The Rabobank Executive Development Program is a course developed for farmers looking to build their strategic planning capabilities and commercial management skills to explore options for business growth, which is run as two modules over an 11-month period.
Following the completion of the first module of the EDP in 2024, Ms McGrath undertook a review of the Excel Farms business with her fellow leadership team. As a team, they determined that "while the company had a solid business strategy and great culture, there were opportunities to enhance many systems and processes even further", she said.
Strategic thinking
Ms McGrath said since commencing operations in 2020, Excel Farms has expanded its footprint across Australia to include seven aggregations spanning the Western District, Wimmera and Mallee regions of Victoria, as well as south-east South Australia, Western Australia and, most recently Griffith, New South Wales.
"As a relatively new and fast-growing company, Excel Farms has evolved quickly," she said. "Undertaking the EDP project and focusing on our company strategic plan has delivered some positive outcomes."
"It was a mixture of luck through having a supportive and innovative managing director like Nick Paterson, as well as good timing for the leadership team to sit down and review and clarify the goals and strategies for the business."
As part of the planning process, Ms McGrath said, the group "set some strategic initiatives around four critical themes – production, people, financial and ESG (environmental, social and governance) – to work on as a team".
"The plan has also helped employees understand the company's clear and specific purpose and make sure we are all going in the same direction to achieve the desired business goals," she said.
Key learnings
Ms McGrath said her key learning from the Executive Development Program was "the importance of strategic planning and the implementation process which sometimes can be overlooked and put in the too hard basket in farming". "As a team we made this a priority to focus working 'on the business' not just in the business. I have been fortunate enough to be a part of such a progressive business," she said.
Ms McGrath said the main highlight from the program was the opportunity to collaborate and build a network with a group of "outstanding farmers" from across Australia and New Zealand.
"We were so lucky to have a great mix of inspiring agriculture business leaders from all types of industries – grains, red meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit. And we all formed a special bond and sense of community aided by spending twelve days together – from 6am for morning exercise through to late into the night listening to guest speakers or sharing experiences, trials and tribulations at dinner," she said.
Smart and savvy
With eight EDP participants presenting their business plans for the Rabobank 'Dr John Morris' Business Development Prize', program director Dr Robin Stonecash said Ms McGrath demonstrated personal growth as an ag leader from the first module to the second and used clear application of strategic frameworks taught on the program to take the business forward.
"Caroline demonstrated the qualities of a leader – the ability to look at detail when necessary and then step back to see the big strategic vision. She represents the future of agriculture – smart, savvy, data driven and humble," Dr Stonecash said.
Ms McGrath was also announced as the People's Choice Winner, while Esperance-based Helen Burton, from AH Burton Farming, was recognised with a Highly Commended award from the judges.
Now in its twenty-sixth year, more than 850 Australian and New Zealand farmers have graduated from the Executive Development Program.
The program covers topics including formulating and implementing long-term strategies, business planning including understanding market conditions and using sound business logic for goal setting and decision making, as well as developing leadership skills to run growing enterprises – all while developing a strong network of progressive farmers.
