AHDB seeks farmer views on data sharing code of practice

[Tarw Coch]

I get a few emails too sandpit farm pity they don't take any notice of the ones I send telling them I don't grow tomatoes ,cucumbers , lettuce, bedding plants and the like but they still keep sending them still it's not their money there waisting ,strange they could not get any emails out regarding the review mind you the window was only nine weeks so was a bit tight on time.

Are you dumb man, they ain’t going to try too hard to publicise the review, turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.

 

[ollie989898]

Just ring them up and tell them you want a refund of all the monies they have taken on your behalf, plus a written list of the totals this year. Tell them you no longer wish to pay for their 'services'.

I see no reason why agriculture, of all the industries in this country, needs obligatory klingon organisations or quangos attached to it. If they are that confident in their ability to deliver value for money then the market can decide their worth.

Seed breeders and the like already produce detailed trials data and the farmer can use this information if he so wishes. It is precisely the same in the USA where farmers (the marketplace) have to weigh up the utility of the information and then make their own business decisions based on this.

If someone needs 'expert' assistance with this then they can fork out the obligatory £1000 or whatever for the service. Personally, I would not bother.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Just ring them up and tell them you want a refund of all the monies they have taken on your behalf, plus a written list of the totals this year. Tell them you no longer wish to pay for their 'services'.

I see no reason why agriculture, of all the industries in this country, needs obligatory klingon organisations or quangos attached to it. If they are that confident in their ability to deliver value for money then the market can decide their worth.

Seed breeders and the like already produce detailed trials data and the farmer can use this information if he so wishes. It is precisely the same in the USA where farmers (the marketplace) have to weigh up the utility of the information and then make their own business decisions based on this.

If someone needs 'expert' assistance with this then they can fork out the obligatory £1000 or whatever for the service. Personally, I would not bother.

You can ring them up and ask for a refund if you like but as it’s a compulsory levy you ain’t going to get one.

 

[An Gof]

Just ring them up and tell them you want a refund of all the monies they have taken on your behalf, plus a written list of the totals this year. Tell them you no longer wish to pay for their 'services'.

I see no reason why agriculture, of all the industries in this country, needs obligatory klingon organisations or quangos attached to it. If they are that confident in their ability to deliver value for money then the market can decide their worth.

Seed breeders and the like already produce detailed trials data and the farmer can use this information if he so wishes. It is precisely the same in the USA where farmers (the marketplace) have to weigh up the utility of the information and then make their own business decisions based on this.

If someone needs 'expert' assistance with this then they can fork out the obligatory £1000 or whatever for the service. Personally, I would not bother.

You make me laugh. Tell you what, why not ring up HMRC as well and tell them you want a refund

Levy Bodies are written into a Statutory Instrument and are technically classified as a parafiscal tax. There’s no way out of paying UNLESS you have enough support to execute the “sunset clause” that was put in place at the start

 

[ollie989898]

You make me laugh. Tell you what, why not ring up HMRC as well and tell them you want a refund

Levy Bodies are written into a Statutory Instrument and are technically classified as a parafiscal tax. There’s no way out of paying UNLESS you have enough support to execute the “sunset clause” that was put in place at the start

I would expect nothing less from you. Its a shower and you know it.

If loads of farmers wrote saying they wanted their money back it would make em sweat if nothing else.

 

[whiterabbit]

Not wanting to wish my time away i still won't be sorry to watch 2018 fade away it really did throw the kitchen sink our way, who was not saddened and sickened to see sheep and lambs being pulled out of snow drifts in the spring only to be confronted with an horrendous drought throughout the summer,on our farm a winter crop of cauliflower was ruined 130 acres costing £1250 pounds an acre to get to harvest plus maybe £300 an acre profit disappeared in a few hours after almost a year growing,it is times like that I envy my large scale arable neighbours,is it just me or do they really seem to only work for a few weeks a year I not jealous much,stopped to talk to my neighbour last week who is also a large scale veg grower he said well looking on the bright side after a year like this there won't be any income tax to pay but knowing I am involved with the petition he sarcastically said he would still have to find 55 grand for my mates in the ahdb, I suggested he write and try and see if he could negotiate any help with payments like deferring part of it till next year he said he tried that back in 2012 and they did indeed come back to him they did sympathise but said his levy had already factored in to the budget,I made the mistake one year of holding back the payment until the last minute and finished up missing the date ,the solicitors letter came with a hefty increase,if anybody on tff has encountered this firm of solicitors which ahdb use they will know they do not take prisoners i see a while back on their reviews they even took a 15 girl to court for nonpayment of her mobile phone bill,but strangely the reviews have been cleaned up and are now glowing the roots of the ahdb go very deep

 

[whiterabbit]

that an gof is what we are attempting to try to do ,we are nearly double what we need for the sunset clause ,it interesting to note that there is hardly any farmers signing up ,this just shows who is carrying the weight,the only thing is we are not dealing with a normal situation like I said previously David handley got 950 names way above what was needed and still didn't get anywhere so we are trying a different way in

 

[yellowbelly]

Being annoyed that you didn’t know about it is totally a legitimate gripe. If you aren’t hearing about this stuff let them know. I get emails from dairy quite regularly

Regularly get stuff about beef and lamb, but seeing as I don't have a team to lead, I expect they thought that would be wasted on me

 

[An Gof]

Not wanting to wish my time away i still won't be sorry to watch 2018 fade away it really did throw the kitchen sink our way, who was not saddened and sickened to see sheep and lambs being pulled out of snow drifts in the spring only to be confronted with an horrendous drought throughout the summer,on our farm a winter crop of cauliflower was ruined 130 acres costing £1250 pounds an acre to get to harvest plus maybe £300 an acre profit disappeared in a few hours after almost a year growing,it is times like that I envy my large scale arable neighbours,is it just me or do they really seem to only work for a few weeks a year I not jealous much,stopped to talk to my neighbour last week who is also a large scale veg grower he said well looking on the bright side after a year like this there won't be any income tax to pay but knowing I am involved with the petition he sarcastically said he would still have to find 55 grand for my mates in the ahdb, I suggested he write and try and see if he could negotiate any help with payments like deferring part of it till next year he said he tried that back in 2012 and they did indeed come back to him they did sympathise but said his levy had already factored in to the budget,I made the mistake one year of holding back the payment until the last minute and finished up missing the date ,the solicitors letter came with a hefty increase,if anybody on tff has encountered this firm of solicitors which ahdb use they will know they do not take prisoners i see a while back on their reviews they even took a 15 girl to court for nonpayment of her mobile phone bill,but strangely the reviews have been cleaned up and are now glowing the roots of the ahdb go very deep

So a £55k levy payment which I think you said is at 0.6% of turnover. That’s some farm buisness with a t/o of £9.2m just on levy charged items.
I’m in a different league to those sort of figures.

 

[An Gof]

Just out of interest @whiterabbit a buisness that was doing £9m in sales turnover of levy charged items would likely be selling to supermarkets. What would their “over-riders” be in comparison to the £55k levy charge?

 

[An Gof]

I think you may have cause to complain on your rate of levy @whiterabbit
Just been playing with some figures.

£9m t/o of fat cattle at average price of £1300 per head would attract a levy of £28k

Likewise an arable farm with £9m sales t/o of cereals and rapeseed assuming average cereal price of £150/t and £320/t for rapeseed with sales at 85% cereals and 15% rapeseed would pay £26k in levies.

Your rates seem to be almost double other sectors.

 

[An Gof]

I would expect nothing less from you. Its a shower and you know it.

If loads of farmers wrote saying they wanted their money back it would make em sweat if nothing else.

You got any “skin in the game” or just like stirring the pot?

 

[ollie989898]

You got any “skin in the game” or just like stirring the pot?

Christ no. I don't even have the shiny shoes now, either.

Still, I am at a loss to understand your apparent enthusiasm for a mandatory body, claiming thousands out of farmers simply because they operate in a cottage industry? If you are so confident these organisations provide a tangible benefit, then you won't mind them being subjected to the real world marketplace, particularly at a time when it looks so likely farmers might be entering that same realm as well.

No more time for hang ons, even if you do enjoy rubbing shoulders with them and eating free hob-knobs, ironically at your own expense.

 

[An Gof]

Christ no. I don't even have the shiny shoes now, either.

Still, I am at a loss to understand your apparent enthusiasm for a mandatory body, claiming thousands out of farmers simply because they operate in a cottage industry? If you are so confident these organisations provide a tangible benefit, then you won't mind them being subjected to the real world marketplace, particularly at a time when it looks so likely farmers might be entering that same realm as well.

No more time for hang ons, even if you do enjoy rubbing shoulders with them and eating free hob-knobs, ironically at your own expense.

I DO believe that I get value for money from my Cereals and Oilseeds levy. I would be very sorry to see it go. That is not to say that there is no room for improvement.
For my Beef levy there is much more room for improvement in my opinion. But on balance I would like to retain the bodies.
Engagement with the services offered is the key to getting value for money, passive action does not help.
Because of the way the Cereals and Oilseeds levy is collected AHDB do not know who all their levy payers are. So if you are under their radar currently subscribe to the services that interest you.

 

[yellowbelly]

I've been to a few AHDB organised livestock events (live to dead carcass events etc) and although they are quite interesting, I find you don't learn much that you didn't already know. I go mainly because as I've already paid for them, there's nothing to lose and I might pick up a few snippets of information and you get a useful exchange of ideas with other producers.

@whiterabbit, our levy is deducted at point of sale for livestock, I'm intrigued to know how they know what your turnover is so they can send you a bill. Do you have to show them your accounts?

Apologies if I've missed this earlier in the thread.

 

[whiterabbit]

An gof we mainly supply Lidl Aldi and Morrisons plus several food services and a Northern Ireland supermarket prices on a 6 monthly contract we do not pay any overriders. I assume that practice does not go on in the veg industry anymore you put in a tender if accepted that is the price you get for the 6 months,you will have noticed around Christmas that sprouts are almost for nothing but the price to the grower will be unchanged the same applies when there is a promotion on any other veg ,you probably now understand why we do not need the ahdb the few times that they have asked to come on to the farm the scale totally overwhelmed them where would they begin to give me advice,I need almost £20,000 a day 365 days a year just to cover costs what advice could they offer to make a difference knowledge exchange , data sharing I could fry their brain in less than a day ,they wouldn't be able to get back to their offices fast enough what bit of I don't want their help don't they understand

 

[whiterabbit]

Yellow belly they send you half a rain forest to fill in there are a few deductible items you take off which don't make a lot of difference it goes to your accountant to be signed off and then within a few days I get the invoice this is the kind of business we should be in you don't even have to make anything

 

[whiterabbit]

An gof it is accepted that the horticultural sector is way over the top regarding what we pay why it should be so I really don't know

 

[Bestriding Spraak]

Is that something they organised for levy payers to go to

..or is it something they did to amuse themselves

EDIT...just looked again - I see it was for us, when I read it properly. FFS there's even been one in Lincolnshire Can't make my mind up whether I'm more angry that i didn't get invited or that they thought it was a good way to spend our money

I suppose they need to find something to do with 520 staff !
There are lots of job vacancies still advertised, they had tried wasting as much money as possible so now advertising for more staff, they are looking for people to wipe backsides if anyone interested, comes with massive salary and pension

 

[Bestriding Spraak]

You can ring them up and ask for a refund if you like but as it’s a compulsory levy you ain’t going to get one.

If we all ring them on same day they’ll want another 50 staff !