"As a trader we'd always tried to do the right thing by growers but with so many new buyers and changing market conditions prevailing we saw a chance to modify our business and actually work for the grower," Mr McKay said.

"There wasn't really anybody representing growers on a broad scale."

Although its initial client base strength was in Mr McKay's home turf of central NSW, Agfarm gained a lot of southern traction by teaming up with the Victorian Farmers Federation to give VFF members non-aligned trading choices and guidance in the increasingly diverse market.

With the new business strategy gaining popularity and requiring more marketing expertise on the payroll, plus a capital injection to strengthen its balance sheet, Mr McKay talked to Ruralco, the company responsible for CRT's farm supply network and a growing portfolio of independently run rural services businesses.

His timing coincided neatly with newly-arrived Ruralco Holdings managing director John Maher's plans to bolster that company's profile in grain and water trading.

"At the time we were being courted strongly by some big international and local grain sector entities who wanted to get a foothold in the market by leveraging off our reputation and geographic spread in the bush," Mr Maher said.

But while rural agency rival Elders had partnered with German grain trader Toepfer, and Landmark was part of the AWB group, Mr Maher was wary of aligning Ruralco with just one downstream buyer.

"It would be a bit like an abattoir promoting itself as a livestock agency," he said.

"The international interest in Ruralco was all very complimentary but our business model is all about servicing growers and Agfarm's approach was a much neater fit."

Agfarm, which became a Ruralco joint venture business in 2009, has enjoyed enviable loyalty and growth from eastern States growers, lifting its grain volumes 500pc in 2010-11.

In 2011 it opened an Adelaide office (its seventh) to support Ruralco's Platinum Operations agency client base in South Australia, and this year expects to broaden its Western Australian footprint.

"Our SA growth has been great and I think we'll see quite a bit of activity in WA in 2012, particularly as the Agfarm Advantage pool options catch on," said Mr McKay.

"Growers tell us that when they do the numbers their best profit results come from concentrating their time and energy on their machinery technology and farming skills to achieve better yields.

"They can't afford to be trying to pick markets and comparing payment arrangements between multinationals, containerised exporters, feed users, local traders, millers and others.

"It's a far more complex environment than a decade ago when growers probably had just two or three buyers to choose from and AWB's export pool as a fall back option."