Are Contractors rates having to go up.

v8willy

Member
Mixed Farmer
Contractors rates have never really been enuff & yes they will have too go up
What a lot of folks dont consider is the true contractor isnt a farmer & doesnt pick up any SUB on his work like the farmer does.
All farmers who go out contracting have a huge advantage to the man who doesnt have a Farm
NAAC rates aint where they should be neither.
Works both ways tho, contractor who dosen't have a farm at home can be out at it 24/7, the farmer contractor has his own work to look after as well & has the delima of which to look after most, used to be a saying make a pound on the country & loose 2 at home.
Well as COP says earlier you can’t run a business without cash flow. I heard years ago of some farmers allegedly paying for last seasons silage making when the contractor arrives the following season. 12 months credit!! Suicide!
Plenty of that goes on for sure, have even heard of more than 1 year being owed.

Then they have the problem, do I do it again this year & hope to get paid, or cut the losses & run? Then someone else get's in & maybe get's the same, or do they get "your" money?

If only they would all stick together, put the word out that Jimmy down the road is bad money then nobody would touch his work.....but somebody would chance it.
 

ARW

Member
Location
Yorkshire
We review everything and usually increase with the rate of inflation ever April.
However we have had to increase the rates again this month, insurance went up a good lump in July, diesel has increased 20ppl and wages have had to go up to keep good staff from possibly leaving and driving a wagon or grading potatoes!
We are 100% contracting, there’s no sub for us. We have to earn it ourselves, so our costs go up then the price has to go up, or we will be out of business.
 

DrDunc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Dunsyre
The question is not whether contractor prices will go up

The question is by how much will they go up

Increased "productivity" cannot cover the enormous increase in machinery costs any longer. Anybody who thinks otherwise needs to take a VERY close look at their own business, or they won't have a business much longer.
 
It’s the work that people don’t see that gets me. You just turn up in the field and folk think you just dropped from the sky.
It's that work that many contractors ignore too.

I recall a thread some time back where someone was asking how much to power Harrow a horse field, I suggested it was probably going to end up taking half a day from you start your tractor in the morning, hitch up etc. until you park it up as you found it fueled and greased and go into the office and make up an invoice.

Someone said words to the effect of so you want to charge to fuel, grease and wash your tractor and to make up a bill?
Yes, of course I do if it's to do someone else's work
 

ewald

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Mid-Lincs
I think a parasite takes all it can and provides nothing of value in return.

I really can’t see many farmers being conned into doing that, certainly not twice.

So, on reflection, I’ll take the term as an insult. But I won’t hold it against you. These are tricky times which we will all suffer through and things will get said that aren’t meant. 👍👍
I think the word we are looking for is symbiotic - a mutually beneficial/dependent relationship

I agree, parasite has very negative connotations
 

DRC

Member
Works both ways abit, some contractors will not bill good paying customers for X amount of years and then when they make a big purchase they will ask for the money and buy the machine. They would of paid tax if they had saved the money in there own account
How can they know if they are good paying if they don’t bill them for years.
I reckon half these stories are made up in the pub 😂
 
Works both ways tho, contractor who dosen't have a farm at home can be out at it 24/7, the farmer contractor has his own work to look after as well & has the delima of which to look after most, used to be a saying make a pound on the country & loose 2 at home.

Plenty of that goes on for sure, have even heard of more than 1 year being owed.

Then they have the problem, do I do it again this year & hope to get paid, or cut the losses & run? Then someone else get's in & maybe get's the same, or do they get "your" money?

If only they would all stick together, put the word out that Jimmy down the road is bad money then nobody would touch his work.....but somebody would chance it.
Does the contractor who doesn't have a farm pay rates on his premises?
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Works both ways tho, contractor who dosen't have a farm at home can be out at it 24/7, the farmer contractor has his own work to look after as well & has the delima of which to look after most, used to be a saying make a pound on the country & loose 2 at home.

Plenty of that goes on for sure, have even heard of more than 1 year being owed.

Then they have the problem, do I do it again this year & hope to get paid, or cut the losses & run? Then someone else get's in & maybe get's the same, or do they get "your" money?

If only they would all stick together, put the word out that Jimmy down the road is bad money then nobody would touch his work.....but somebody would chance it.
we had a good system with our contractor, sat down and worked out probable bill for the year, divided it by 12, and standing order, if 'out' adjustment easily made. Worked a treat, and in return we had a very good service, things happen, and son took on the business, he didn't like owing me money, and couldn't quite get to grips with the arrangement, the end result, one of his best payers, ended up at the bottom of the list, while he chased either bad payers, doing them first, in the hope of a cheque, or new 'bad payers', looking to expand the business. He was suprised, when we left.
 

Farma Parma

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Northumberlandia
Works both ways tho, contractor who dosen't have a farm at home can be out at it 24/7, the farmer contractor has his own work to look after as well & has the delima of which to look after most, used to be a saying make a pound on the country & loose 2 at home.

Plenty of that goes on for sure, have even heard of more than 1 year being owed.

Then they have the problem, do I do it again this year & hope to get paid, or cut the losses & run? Then someone else get's in & maybe get's the same, or do they get "your" money?

If only they would all stick together, put the word out that Jimmy down the road is bad money then nobody would touch his work.....but somebody would chance it.
Farmer doesnt have to go out contracting if there is plenty too do at home
The contractor has no choice.
Far too many Farmers doing contracting work below the true cost of doing so
which is killing the genuine contractors.
Again the Farmer can do this because he is subbed in the first place.
Hey hands up i use both a Neighbour to do my Combining but pay him the going rate & use a sep contractor for spraying/hedgecutting/muckspreading etc etc
The Contractor even says i couldnt give you the service your neighbour can with that combine.
 

hally

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
cumbria
I have mixed feelings about these young lads starting out, on one hand it is reducing the acreage we drill but on the other hand everybody has to start somewhere and it’s no different than these big companies offering better deals for new customers. It’s annoying as an existing customer as there is no loyalty but it’s the way of the world . Certainly the grants for new direct drills has resulted in them being very common around here but thats life and there are other ways of making a living.
 

feilding

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
At Home
All my customers pay me when I hand them a bill, worth a visit to them to get the cheque to come home with. Got 5 customers who pay on line, money in bank before I get home. And asked about the next job when I'm there. It's good to talk 😁
 

tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
Do farmers think contractors coming in with new, big and shiny state of the art kit think they are getting a better job done? Contractors may think farmers are more impressed by turning up with this kit too.
Looking at the job realistically the contractor with well maintained twenty year old stuff could undercut the new kit man by probably 30% and have spare machine in the yard ready if needs be.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

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

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,293
  • 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