Agriculture Flashcards
How have you provided farm management advice in written and oral forms?
During an appraisal of a clients business plan I was asked to advise on ways the client could work to off-set their BPS and generate monies to help with reinvestment on fencing and hedging.
I provided the client with a letter advising on options under the SFI scheme that they could do which would not alter their farming practice and get monies from it, I advised on SAM3 Herbal Leys £382/ha and LIG1 £158/ha for their grassland areas, and no insecticide on arable ground imp4 along nutrient, intergreated pest management and soil testing. I advised for capital work he enter into a capital only css option and apply for fg2 and bn11 and bn7
Redhouse Farm
Why was the SFI/Capital CSS your preffered route?
SFI 3 yr not 5 - so if options didn’t work with enterprise then werent tied in for so long
didnt have management control of all the land for 5 years on some ground
options more flexible on sfi and css/some options on sfi more attractive than those on css.
Redhouse Farm
Were there any options which would be actions in addition to those already undertaken by your Client?
No - for the most part can’t double claim on areas, however original css focused on low yielding plots and margins on arable ground and new options were broader less cumbersome options
Redhouse Farm
What wasa the value of the SFP compared to the value of the SFI claim/CSS claim?
BPS Approx £20,000/annum
CS capital grants £19,754
SFI £35,000 after costs liklihood around same bps value if not slightly more
Redhouse Farm
Were there any other mitigations condiered with your client?
Client already relatively well diversified e.g mixed farm, doing brewers grade barley, asparagus, pumpkin picking. client objective was not to take anything on that was going to require lots more time, funding etc
Redhouse Farm
How did your advice aid your client meeting their objectives in this project.
My advise allowed them to raise capital to re-invest in areas of the farm e/g fencing/boundaries. I also provided advice that would replace loss of BPS
Council Farm Tender
What impact did your recommendations have on the projected financial performance of business?
My recommendations included entrance into CSS which increased revenue per annum by £2,409.
The council wanted the tenant to reinvest in some traditional buildings, I advised entering those into HS1 option in order to off-set some costs for tenant.
Council Farm Tender
What value did you add to your Clients project in giving the advice you did?
Professionalism, client was not business-minded so i encouarged entrance into schemes, assurances that farm was not over-stocked but still viable. NVZ ackowledgement of record keeping
Council Farm Tender
How did the CSS options within the forecasts go to present a Tenant the Landlord would want farming the land?
The options showed reinvestment into areas of the holding, which is a bonus for the landlord (e.g. HS1) they also showed the Landlord that the tenant was not going to over exert the lands yield (e.g GS2 client wasn’t looking to take take take from the land.) improvring soil quality etc.
Council Farm Tender
Did you provide any other advice in relation to the application?
NVZ - I advised the client the land was subject to an NVZ and that this would require approriate record keeping of holding size, risk map of the holding, field records (cropping etc), livestock calculations & details of any imports/exports. I advised on the livestock manure nitrogren farm limit and livestock manure nitrogen capacity
Council Farm Tender
Why did you advise on NVZ?
To ensure my client understood his cross compliance obligations
What is the maximum amount of nitrate per hectare allowed to be applied?
170kg/ha
For arable land, how have you advised on crop rotations, cultivations, crop husbandry and marketing of products?
One of my clients grows Pumpkins for picking during October, he asked for my advice on the best way of marketing the product/attraction but incur least costs to maiximise profitability. I advised that social media was one of the best areas to advertise, they are also located on a busy main road, so sign posts to the farm would also generate interest.
Another client was also looking at how they could increase profitabilily of their barley crop, i advised that joining the Molson Coors growers group, would provide them access into selling their grain for brewers barley, given they fit the requirements and use correct grain strain
For livestock, how have you advised on livestock enterprises, animal husbandry and welfare, including record keeping and marketing?
I advised a client on a range of requirements when setting up a beef cattle farming enterprise including:
obtaining CPH, herd numbers, registration of cattle deadlines, tb obligations, vetinary recording.
the client is still growing his beef suckler herd but has also asked on advice regarding sale of beef, he is looking to do this on a relatively small ad hoc basis and i advised beef boxes and sale to local farm shops would yield him the most gross margin.
How have you dealt with relevant regulations that affect all aspects of agriculture?
Ag Act 2020 - loss of bps, introduction on ELMS
