1MG FlippingBooks
Banking that backs regional growth
Regional Australia Bank is helping innovative farmers unlock productivity, diversify income, and build stronger regional businesses.
Across Australian agriculture, forward-thinking farmers are increasingly looking beyond traditional production models to improve profitability, manage risk, and build long-term resilience. Diversification, value-adding, and regional tourism are becoming powerful tools in strengthening farm businesses.
In Batlow, NSW, third-generation apple grower Dave Purcell has turned that thinking into reality through Apple Thief Cider House, transforming orchard fruit into a thriving agribusiness destination.
After launching Apple Thief Cider in 2013 using fruit from his family farm, Dave had long envisioned building a home for the brand. That ambition accelerated following the Black Summer bushfires, when the Snowy Valleys community faced immense loss.
“Crisis was the catalyst,” Dave says. “We wanted to rebuild something that would give back to the region that raised us.”
Turning that vision into a viable business required more than determination. Like many regional operators, Dave and his partner Mel Dickson found traditional lending models struggled to understand seasonal income, diversified revenue streams, and the true economic value of regional investment.
“At the start, it was just a concept,” Dave explains. “Having the backing of Regional Australia Bank gave us the confidence to keep the dream alive. Without their financial support, the project simply wouldn’t have happened.”
Rather than applying metropolitan benchmarks, the Regional Australia Bank team took time to understand the business model, combining tailored agribusiness finance with government recovery funding and private investment.
“They understood what being regional meant,” Dave says. “Metro parameters don’t work in the regions. They spoke our language, shared the vision and backed the potential.”
Today, the cider house is driving tourism into Batlow, creating local jobs, strengthening supply chains, and delivering flow-on economic benefits across the region.
For Regional Australia Bank, it reflects a broader commitment to helping farmers improve operational effectiveness, support diversification, and invest for sustainable growth. Through relationship-based banking, flexible cash-flow solutions, and agribusiness lending designed for real farm conditions, Regional Australia Bank partners with farms to turn innovation into long-term business success.
Looking ahead, expansion plans are already underway, including on-site accommodation and increased production.
For farmers navigating a changing agricultural landscape, the message is clear: with a bank that truly understands regional business, growth opportunities become achievable.
Regional Australia Bank is a customer-owned financial institution serving more than 100,000 members across regional Australia. Built to support the needs of regional communities, the bank provides personal, business and agribusiness banking backed by local knowledge and relationship-based service. As a member-owned bank, profits are reinvested to improve services, strengthen communities and deliver long-term value to customers, ensuring the success of regional Australians remains at the centre of everything it does.
Website: www.regionalaustraliabank.com.au/?utm_source=Australia+Farmer&utm_medium=referral
Email: enquiries@regionalaustraliabank.com.au
NEWS
Invasive woody weeds steal your pasture. Method helps you take it back.
High-precision GNSS has typically been too costly and complex for all but the most critical agricultural operations, but recent RTK GNSS innovations have made centimetre accuracy scalable to all applications in Ag-Tech.
Every Aussie farmer knows that the difference between a “good” crop and a “record-breaking” one often come down to the smallest details. At BioFlora, we’ve spent years perfecting the balance of plant nutrition, and the result is IsoGreen – our powerhouse liquid formula designed to push your yields and crop taste to their absolute peak.
Plant, spray and harvest with confidence using reliable centimetre level positioning. Hexagon SmartNet provides fast, accurate RTK corrections across Australia to reduce overlaps, lower input costs and maximise productivity. With no base station required, simply connect, get a fix and get to work.
Built for the demand of Aussie farmers. Designed for every day performance.
They’re wriggly black grubs more commonly tossed to backyard hens than served at the dinner table, but black soldier fly larvae could soon play a key role in building a more sustainable food system, according to new research from Adelaide University.
