Geoff, Carol and Mark Landy, who run 750 cows on their 170-hectare property, have also been recognised for business excellence in the Gippsland, Medium Concentrate and Pasture Harvest categories.

The competition received more than 70 entries from farmers in Victoria, southern New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.

In its third year, the competition was developed by Red Sky Agricultural and Intelact Australia and is unique in its focus on dairy business management and absolute profitability.

Dairy Australia and National Australia Bank (NAB) Agribusiness are the gold sponsors of the competition, and it was judged by Associate Professor Bill Malcolm of Melbourne University and NAB’s head of agribusiness for southern Australia, Neil Findlay.

Mr Findlay said the calibre of entries in the competition this year has been outstanding.

“The entries were judged on a number of financial measures, the key one being return on capital as it provides the real return on the business and is vital for where you invest in the future,” Mr Findlay said.

“Every entrant had their farm business performance analysed as a benchmarking exercise. While 2008 prices were high, this year’s winners have demonstrated outstanding performance that should see them through the challenge of lower milk prices and in some instances, extended drought conditions.

“A combination of rewarding excellence in business and providing information to allow entrants to benchmark their performance will help the industry as a whole to become more successful.”