This is open to all businesses registered with Farming Connect and all eligible businesses can apply for up to 80% funding towards a whole farm plan.

This consultancy can be used for whole farm planning, budgets & cashflows, technical advice, succession planning etc, and can be tailored to your indvidual needs.

If you are interested in recieving advice through Farming Connect, please call the Cara office on  01570 471516.

Typical savings of £20-30 per tonne possible on concentrates.

Questions that need raising are:

Can I reduce my production cost? Am I maximising forage contribution? Do I need all my kit and tractors? How do I compare to others?

The average producer has no control over milk price – assuming they are achieving the best price available- but can control their cost base.

CARA slurry/manure analysis = £42 + VAT. Analysis gives levels of Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potash, Magnesium and dry matter. This would allow you to carry out a manure management plan and accurately plan fertiliser requirements. This in turn would:

·         improve crop nutrient management

·         result in potential savings on fertiliser inputs

·         meet farm assurance criteria

·         gain environmental agency approval

·         benefit the environment

It is critical that you notify BCMS of movements within 3 days. Any late notifications could immediately mean a 3% penalty across all schemes, i.e. Single Payment Scheme, Tir Gofal, Tir Cynnal, Tir Mynydd, Organic Farming Scheme.

This is the most common cross compliance failure in Wales. If you require assistance in notifying BCMS, please let us know. We can provide a service to notify CTS online on your behalf.

Soil Assessment –

In the recent wet weather a number of farmers have been penalised for causing soil damage or soil erosion and not recording it in their soil assessment books. If any damage occurs to your fields in wet weather, record it in your soil assessment book immediately, even if you hope to rectify the damage in the near future. This should protect you from any penalty if you were inspected.

Your Single Farm Payment is calculated in Euros by the Welsh Assembly Government. You can then choose on your Single Application Form whether to receive the payment in Euros or Sterling. The vast majority of farmers usually elect to receive their payments in Sterling. The payment is therefore converted to Sterling by the Assembly on the conversion rate on the 30^th of September in that calendar year. (0.79 conversion rate in 2008)

The farmers who elect to receive their payment in Euros are paid in Euros into a Euro bank account which they have set up with the bank. They can then convert these Euros back to Sterling at any time they wish, (most would do so when they received the payment – 1^st of Dec for majority). This effectively means that these farmers can choose to play with the exchange rate if they wish.

The article in the farmers weekly by World First, highlighted the option of forward booking a conversion of your euros into sterling at today’s conversion rate, which is 0.94. They required a deposit of 10% from farmers for this service, however the main banks are offering this service without a deposit.

SO WHAT WOULD YOU GAIN?

The conversion rate in 2007 was 0.69

The conversion rate in 2008 was 0.79

The conversion rate today is         0.94

On a payment of say €40,000 you would have received (before modulation) :-

2007  £27,600

2008 £31,600

2009 £37,600 (at today’s rate)

All you are doing is therefore eliminating the risk that the exchange rate falls back between today and the 30^th of September when the Assembly converts the money.

SO WHAT WOULD YOU LOSE?

The gamble you would take by forward booking a conversion rate is that the pound weakened further and that the conversion rate would improve by the 30^th of September.  (Barclays Chief Economist  is however indicating that the exchange rate will fall back towards 0.85 towards the end of the year. )

By pre-booking this conversion rate you are entering into a contract to convert your Euros in a certain payment window e.g. 1/1/10 to 31/03/10. If your payment was late for any reason, you would then be in breach of contract. However, the contracts can be extended for a fee.

Accounts show real costs, all be it sometimes not broken down into enough detail. But, they can provide a good starting point to see where things have gone wrong, or gone right. Questions that should be raised from annual accounts are as simple as:

Did I make a profit?

Did the profit cover my drawings?

Did my balance sheet improve?

Is my output, measured by sales, growing?

Are my costs increasing faster than my output?

These questions will provide a starting point for some decisions on best way forward.

Contact us if you are interested in moving your business forward and seeing how you can reduce your production cost.

When comparing fertiliser, it is best to use the price per unit or kilo of nutrient. For example 1 tonne of urea contains 460 kilos of nitrogen, at a cost of £275 per tonne this is 60 pence per kilo of nutrient. For ammonia nitrate to compete (345 kilos of nitrogen per tonne) it should be no more than £207 per tonne – certainly food for thought!

The best advice would be to order at least early spring requirements soon to guarantee product on farm for spreading in February / March.