I launched Cato Advisory in 2022 after more than 20 years in financial services, including nine years as a senior agribusiness banker at one of the Big Four banks.

But the company’s name was forged more than 11 years ago after a chance discovery in a bookshop in Sydney.

I had already decided I wanted to move into agri finance and was searching for opportunities to leave my corporate banking job. I read everything I could get my hands on to upskill in agri finance with a hope of landing a job in the part of the world where I grew up.

As I scanned the bookshelves, there in front of me was a red covered book with the word ‘Cato’ emblazoned on the spine. I had heard the name as an ancient history student at school, so I was immediately curious. The ‘Cato’ referred to the author, Cato the Elder, a Roman politician, military general and, importantly, farmer from the second century BC. The book was called ‘De Agricultura’, or On Agriculture.

I flicked through the initial pages and discovered this was a manual for farming best practice during the Roman empire. I thought “here is the first ever agribusiness advisor”, and a lightbulb switched on.

And this piece of writing – originally in Latin – is the only fully intact piece of Latin literature to survive two millennia. It has stood the test of time.

I decided then and there that I would like to one day start a business and call it Cato Advisory. And more than nine years later, it came to be.

Our logo

One of Cato’s early pieces of advice was on how to select a good farm. Amongst a long list of attributes, Cato said a farm should be situated ‘at the bottom of a hill’ and facing south (north for all us in the southern hemisphere).

We thought this was a good visual, so the Cato mountain logo, with the dot being the farm, was born.

For more about Cato Advisory and how we can play a positive roll in your farming business, check out our Services Page or, better still, click on the button below to make an appointment.