OWNING a farm is twice as risky a proposition as owning an average Australian business.
And owning a wheat farm is even more so, according to new research published by the Australian Farm Institute.
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The investigation found Australian farmers had to deal with more risk than other farmers in the world - without the safety nets of government income or insurance subsidies.
AFI chief executive Mick Keogh said Australian farmers had come out of seven years of drought and two years of flood, yet were expecting record production and exports this year.
"Governments internationally are responding to the increased volatility of agricultural markets in a number of ways, with major international initiatives to develop better market information systems," Mr Keogh said.
"In Australia, the major focus on risk management is at the individual farm-business level. This will become even more important given that existing exceptional circumstances drought measures are being reviewed by Australian governments."
