What do you think the best form of diversification is?

willfarmbiz

New Member
Location
Bristol
Some good points here - quite often diversification is essential, and can help raise funds to reinvest back into the core business. Some of the less time consuming options are certainly worth considering - such as renewable energy. The opportunities are seemingly endless though, and I regularly hear of some extremely imaginative (and profitable) ideas. I imagine growing MaryJoanna could possibly cause a few issues further down the line though...
 

Clever Dic

Member
Location
Melton
Find a product in which you set the price and therefore not a commodity it removes one of the variables that can cause failure. Don't stack high and sell cheap it leaves too little margin and somebody will always try to undercut you. Don't sell on price but on quality and service and make sure you keep those standards. There are people that will pay a good margin on a product if it is exactly what they want when they want,there are some wealthy people out there who the price is not the first question. Don't screw a customer even if you think you can get away with it ,if it takes 20% effort to maintain a customer it takes 200% to get a new one.
 

keenanfeeder

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Midlands
you could convert old traditional buildings into offices and meeting rooms, you control the rates although this will correlate with usage as you can price yourself out of the market, and location can influence this... holiday lets are good as well as they develop an asset...

Another thought is a micro-brewery i did a project on it when i was at uni. the mark up was excellent however the marketing of the product is essential... having a strong USP will help (sell local)... and it can be an excellent business with minimal work (brewing 1/2 days a week).
 

willfarmbiz

New Member
Location
Bristol
Don't think we've got any exhibitors or speakers who can help with farm to brothel diversification (yet). We've got plenty who can help with micro-brewing, wine production and distilling though!
 
Went to the Farm Innovation Show last year and found it pretty inspiring. You could do as much market research that afternoon as days on the computer, and then ask questions. I've written a lot on the subject, as I think it's very easy for a farmer (or anyone else come to that) to focus on one project, get committed and then find it as hard as the farming itself. But with the diving price of corn and milk there's something to be said for a business which has a price not based on the commodity market. And a business which doesn't need quite so much capital as the mega ££ dairy expansion or the expansion of arable machinery with Challengers, Quad Tracs etc.
 

Welsh Farmer

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Wales
We now do more research scale growing than commercial scale growing, which has been a good (and easier) move for us. We have all the knowledge and experience of commercial production plus the ability and premises to grow which the people in the labs don't have. Works well for us at this stage in our life ... which is, too young to retire but too old to want to go back to mortgages, loans and any business risks.
 

Welsh Farmer

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Wales
No, is the general answer. We do some Home Office work with which they get the results and then they do whatever they want to do with it and obviously we are not at liberty to discuss any findings with anyone regarding this work ..... or we deal with companies who for whatever reason don't wish to go down the HDC route. When we were growing commercially I used to make all our information (including financial) and growing techniques available to any interested parties for research purposes and it was always nice to be so open and transparent plus I like to think it made it a difference industry wise.

The hardest thing I find is when the client asks you test something in a manner that is just not carried out like that in a normal commercial growing situation. You can point this out to them but ultimately, even though you know that this not correct, you just have to abide with what the client wants and how they want their product tested. I am still learning not to question.
 
Sounds tricky. Farmers, and others, need honesty in testing, yet it's going out of fashion. Today we hear that price comparison web sites get a kick back from energy companies for sales of their more profitable, read expensive, service plans. Nothing effective will be done to change it.

Car manufacturers obey the letter of the rules to manufacture amazing and meaningless emission results, and get away with it. Companies get away with tax arrangements, Osbourne promises "a blitz on offshore avoidance" and then invites Google chairman Eric Schmidt to join a cabal of business advisors to the PM! While Facebook's CEO Sheryl Sandberg launches her book 'Leaning In' at a party in 11 Downing St.

It seems to me they are all governed by lawyers and their skewed morality. A test which has been conducted in order to achieve a certain result isn't a test at all.
 

Jackson4

Member
Location
Wensleydale
Some good points here - quite often diversification is essential, and can help raise funds to reinvest back into the core business. Some of the less time consuming options are certainly worth considering - such as renewable energy. The opportunities are seemingly endless though, and I regularly hear of some extremely imaginative (and profitable) ideas. I imagine growing MaryJoanna could possibly cause a few issues further down the line though...

Had some in my mothers greenhouse, wasn't convinced when I said they were tomatoes :whistle: cut them up just as they flowered..... Had a funny smell in her airing cupboard for a while after that.
Edit: are you looking for some crazy ased schemes or the most successful? What criteria do you go on? Its not like the country file calander is it?
 
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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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    Votes: 79 42.9%
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  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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