Frontier Fengrain tie up??
- Thread starter Spashett
- Start date
- Location
- Essex/Herts Border
Can ask tomorrow at the Duxford 3D Conference.
Hot gossip
New Member
- Location
- East Anglia
More power for Frontier, but probably inevitable for Fengrain. Farmers struggle to work well together without a strong external guiding hand. Frontier have targeted the grain co ops over the last few years because they're probably easier targets than on-farm expansion. Where does this leave Openfield?
Farmer-George
Member
A lot more power to frontier! Ultimately Fengrain has on paper been struggling for a couple of years now.
Frontier are getting too big, can they use this volume to corner a fairly large share of the east anglia market and actually control the price? Overall they now have access to larger volume and more homes through the existing supply agreements???
I liked the service Fengrain provided, unfortunately they were only ever on the money for soft wheat!
Personally I don’t like Frontier and really see this as a negative for the UK grain industry, starting to look like a game of Monopoly with frontier as the banker!
Frontier are getting too big, can they use this volume to corner a fairly large share of the east anglia market and actually control the price? Overall they now have access to larger volume and more homes through the existing supply agreements???
I liked the service Fengrain provided, unfortunately they were only ever on the money for soft wheat!
Personally I don’t like Frontier and really see this as a negative for the UK grain industry, starting to look like a game of Monopoly with frontier as the banker!
This shouldn't directly affect Openfield, unless they were in the running for the job before Frontier got the gig.
What concerns me more is the ever increasing market share that Cargill (half owners of Frontier with ABF) has over the UK off- farm grain storage network.
- Location
- south norfolk
We all need plenty of competition but unfortuantly there is getting less and less,regardless wether selling machinery,sprays,seeds or buying our products.british sugar have a monopoly and do as they please
Nick...
Nick...
Farmer-George
Member
We all need financially secure competition!! We’ve lost Dalmark and now Fengrain in the last 12 months.
More regional merchants struggling locally, maybe Frontier don’t buy or sell trade stuff to these smaller merchants and the try and put them under pressure and swoop in when they put the white flag up!
Hot gossip
New Member
- Location
- East Anglia
Best deal of all is "to be paid". Market timing is there for anyone to take advantage of. Best deal for 2018/19 feed wheat was end of July/early August at nearly £200/T for late season delivery. Selling to Frontier at this price makes a lot more sense than wandering around many other players. Hands up who grabbed the top of the market for most of their sales. Why do we always assume big is bad?
- Location
- Westish Suffolk
So, Cofco, Gleadell, and Saxon should remain an alternative to Frontier/Openfield?
southernfarmer
New Member
If you want good service and some dynamic marketing best bet is to use many of the independent companies, they need supporting.
Not sure about the "should" bit!
If you want to see market power concentrated in fewer hands, just deal with the majors like the above and Glencore, Cefetra. There is room for the little guys too, even if they are sometimes risky. It's not difficult to see their accounts at Companies House if you're concerned about their profitability. We can collectively sleepwalk into a stranglehold of the handful of multinationals just by "playing it safe" or you can spread your business (and risk) around a few more merchants.
Farmer-George
Member
This has to be one for the competition watchdog?? You look at all the companies that Frontier have hoovered up in the last 3 years very quietly.
In one way or another they are trying to take over the world! Look at the range of services they offer and the smaller independent companies they have bought.
Soon we will have nobody but frontier in the east, they will be able to control the market to their advantage at this rate!
We deal with Cefetra and Gleadell mainly, in that order too. They are both merchants! Not agronomists, or seed cleaners or other weird and wonderful offerings.
I won’t use any of companies that frontier buy based on the way they’ve treated us in the past.
In one way or another they are trying to take over the world! Look at the range of services they offer and the smaller independent companies they have bought.
Soon we will have nobody but frontier in the east, they will be able to control the market to their advantage at this rate!
We deal with Cefetra and Gleadell mainly, in that order too. They are both merchants! Not agronomists, or seed cleaners or other weird and wonderful offerings.
I won’t use any of companies that frontier buy based on the way they’ve treated us in the past.
Wiltshire Bob
Member
Maybe you should try Openfield, They are not a multi national, they are a farmer owned co op, meaning they support British Agriculture and don't take their profits off to a foreign sharholder
Frontier 50% owned by Cargill
- Location
- Westish Suffolk
Oh Lordy, Barts and rotten Appel then! What car do you drive
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Hot gossip
New Member
- Location
- East Anglia
The reason Openfield don't take their profits off to a foreign shareholder is because they haven't made profits lately. As others say - check Companies House records. Not trading with Frontier is a daft idea, it's like saying that you won't buy from Amazon.Just wait till we have block-chain data to deal with as well. Farming will move forward or go bust, time for self-serving thinking to change. Brexit will increase the rate of change. Darwin's rules will apply. Just saying.