Potatoes yes or no !

samsung

Member
Location
North Yorks
Thinking of growing some in a couple of years time.
Growers locally seem to be doing ok.
Contractor planted and lifted. We can do the rest with existing equipment.
Crisp or chip contract or something different?.
Storage shouldn't be a problem box or bulk?
That'll do for now.. S
 
Examine the impact on the following crop- volunteers in it and also lifting if the weather is dodgy.

Is your spray operator going to be up to spraying them weekly and with the required hygiene?


Other than that, a very very useful crop as breaks up the rotation and brings differing chemistry into play.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Thinking of growing some in a couple of years time.
Growers locally seem to be doing ok.
Contractor planted and lifted. We can do the rest with existing equipment.
Crisp or chip contract or something different?.
Storage shouldn't be a problem box or bulk?
That'll do for now.. S
May be better letting your land. It is a huge investment, McCains contract is just good enough to provide a decent return if you get the right sample and correct tonnage
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Thinking of growing some in a couple of years time.
Growers locally seem to be doing ok.
Contractor planted and lifted. We can do the rest with existing equipment.
Crisp or chip contract or something different?.
Storage shouldn't be a problem box or bulk?
That'll do for now.. S

Do you have enough ground for a good rotation, is it decent spud ground? local weather, on average ok for spuds? Could you get a contract and are you prepared for all the extra work involved would be good questions to start with.
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
May be better letting your land. It is a huge investment, McCains contract is just good enough to provide a decent return if you get the right sample and correct tonnage

The problem with contracts in the UK as I see it, is there's too many people planting non contract spuds and chancing it. So the processors can use it against you. Not enough spuds, you'll have to get them from someone else to fill your contract. Too many and they'll find fault with them especially if they can buy cheaper else where.
Its another good example of farmers cutting each others throats to the processors advantage.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
The problem with contracts in the UK as I see it, is there's too many people planting non contract spuds and chancing it. So the processors can use it against you. Not enough spuds, you'll have to get them from someone else to fill your contract. Too many and they'll find fault with them especially if they can buy cheaper else where.
Its another good example of farmers cutting each others throats to the processors advantage.

The McCains contract certainly used to have nice little catch in it, 15 years since I grew on it though. This was you had to gurantee the tonnage of salable product, say 1,000 tonnes. If you underachieved , you were penalised and contract tonnage could be lost.If you over performed , then it was market price and there is no real market for some of their varieties.
Growing over tonnage soon cut margins hard.
 

Honest john

Member
Location
Fenland
Thinking of growing some in a couple of years time.
Growers locally seem to be doing ok.
Contractor planted and lifted. We can do the rest with existing equipment.
Crisp or chip contract or something different?.
Storage shouldn't be a problem box or bulk?
That'll do for now.. S

There’s no money in a crisp or chip contract.
If you are in it & have all the kit then it’s slim.

There’s a gang renting near me that drive 40 miles. They have had two years in last three below required yield.
I just don’t get it.
 

Honest john

Member
Location
Fenland
Depends on who your customers are and at what price John.

Agreed but we all know the prices offered from the big firms.
You need to keep them till June to get about £170.
A lot did just 5-8 tpa this year. Unirrigated.

If you do a bag contract At 180-220 on a 2018 yield of 30tph it’s not going to cover your costs.

So let’s say you had a bag contract in 2017 at Ave 200 for 25tph then the other 30tph on free buy at Ave 120 comes to 8600 ha would show a profit of 1100 ha or 445 ac.

But in 2018 you Ave 30tph at 200 on the same contract 6000 ha. Leaves a loss of 1400 ha or a loss of 150Ha over the two yrs.

That’s if every ship that sailed, resulted in a cheque cashed.
 

chipchap

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
South Shropshire
Agreed but we all know the prices offered from the big firms.
You need to keep them till June to get about £170.
A lot did just 5-8 tpa this year. Unirrigated.

If you do a bag contract At 180-220 on a 2018 yield of 30tph it’s not going to cover your costs.

So let’s say you had a bag contract in 2017 at Ave 200 for 25tph then the other 30tph on free buy at Ave 120 comes to 8600 ha would show a profit of 1100 ha or 445 ac.

But in 2018 you Ave 30tph at 200 on the same contract 6000 ha. Leaves a loss of 1400 ha or a loss of 150Ha over the two yrs.

That’s if every ship that sailed, resulted in a cheque cashed.
Every year is different, and every business has different costs and aspirations.
I am happy with the relationships I have built with my customers over the last few years, and am confident that there is a good future. My customers are all family businesses operating on a similar scale to us; and I think a mutual respect has evolved which would be impossible with big business or an intermediate merchant involved.
 

Honest john

Member
Location
Fenland
Every year is different, and every business has different costs and aspirations.
I am happy with the relationships I have built with my customers over the last few years, and am confident that there is a good future. My customers are all family businesses operating on a similar scale to us; and I think a mutual respect has evolved which would be impossible with big business or an intermediate merchant involved.

Same for me.
But Free buy not Contract.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.2%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.3%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.3%

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

  • 1,287
  • 1
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/
Top