Economy of scale
- Thread starter Vizslaman
- Start date
- Location
- S E Glos
It's not clear if all that kit belongs to the farm or is another itinerant contracting gang.
Impressive all the same.
Impressive all the same.
multi power
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Economy of scale is a myth, nice video but all I see is high costs and high deprecation
CORK
Member
- Location
- East Cork, Ireland
It appears that this is a custom harvester company that also has a trucking company.
They probably have their own farming as well
They probably have their own farming as well
...says the small farmer
What you don't see in the video is how many tens of thousands of acres they cut each year with that lot. High costs spread over a massive area = lower cost per acre.
Not saying your wrong because I've never been a big farmer but as I see it their costs and breakages are massive with lower attention to detail compared the the smaller owner operator/family farms...says the small farmer
What you don't see in the video is how many tens of thousands of acres they cut each year with that lot. High costs spread over a massive area = lower cost per acre.
wasted years
Member
- Location
- Cumbrian born and bread
It might be lower cost , it might not be, do you know for certain?...says the small farmer
What you don't see in the video is how many tens of thousands of acres they cut each year with that lot. High costs spread over a massive area = lower cost per acre.
CORK
Member
- Location
- East Cork, Ireland
Speaking of big farmers. A friend of mine spent a few years on the road selling farm insurance.
As a single young man, he always had an eye out for for the only daughter of a big farmer.
He admitted that in too many cases, the farms were small and the daughters were big.
Ok, back on thread....
As a single young man, he always had an eye out for for the only daughter of a big farmer.
He admitted that in too many cases, the farms were small and the daughters were big.
Ok, back on thread....
- Location
- S E Glos
Interesting to speculate how they would have fared if any or all of those acres were hit by that snowfall just before harvest. That's when economy of scale falls down.
Do you?
Yes, you can have diseconomies of scale, usually when you've got a lot of overcapacity, too many layers of management and a lack of attention to detail.
How do you suppose silage contractors work? Why can't you justify your own silage making kit? Because a self propelled chopper or big forage wagon doing many many farms/year can do it cheaper. Explain to me why the food retail sector is dominated by a few big players? Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco, Waitrose, Aldi & Lidl control 80% of that market.
You'd either be lucky enough that it was all gathered in before the snow or none of it at all. Do I feel lucky?
Don't get me wrong nothing against big farms . They can easily turn into less efficient farms than the smaller units as sometimes the attention to detail slips and the management cant handle the workload and things start go down hill fast .
The best and most efficient farm is the one that has the lowest production costs as well as keeping the farm / estate up together and looking after their land and not just rapping the ground .
The best and most efficient farm is the one that has the lowest production costs as well as keeping the farm / estate up together and looking after their land and not just rapping the ground .
Loss of attention to detail is the main pitfall. To get the benefits of scale you have to keep things simple and big. Block cropping, efficient field shapes etc. There's an optimum size for max sustainable profit per acre and it's not measured in many thousands. From what I've seen it's the 800-1800 acre arable units where you have the best of both worlds.
The only big farming operation I can think of in your part of the world is Brixworth. Do they publish their figures? How do they compare to yours per acre?
I don't know if they publish their accounts. But from what I've seen farms running one big combine on around 2000 acres seem to be very efficient
wasted years
Member
- Location
- Cumbrian born and bread
I have a feeling (though I don't know for certain) that the reason why these big farms are put together into gigantic farms (by our standards) is more sophisticated then pure cheapest cost per acre.
I think there will be folk that balk at the isolation of some of these units if they were to farm them themselves, it is something we know nothing of in this country.
I see parallels with the thread about the Yorkshire family on tv last week with their 9 kids and living in the remote arable regions of the USA. Australia etc, it is not a life for everyone.
I know a family locally that came back from Australia after the mans father refused to allow him to continue to farm as he said he didn't want him to go through what he had done.
- Location
- South Wales UK
Pence" to grow ",then!
In the early 1950's we were homesteaders in Northern Alberta.
From what I remember back then I think it was termed share croppers, where we might have owned a tractor, our neighbour may have had a larger homestead and owned a combine and a tractor. But the local community moved from one homestead to another until all the harvest was gathered in.
It has been interesting looking back over how much farming has changed over the last 60 + years
I might add I was only 6 when my folks emigrated from UK to Canada..
We were just north of a place called Grouard outside High Prairie.
From what I remember back then I think it was termed share croppers, where we might have owned a tractor, our neighbour may have had a larger homestead and owned a combine and a tractor. But the local community moved from one homestead to another until all the harvest was gathered in.
It has been interesting looking back over how much farming has changed over the last 60 + years
I might add I was only 6 when my folks emigrated from UK to Canada..
We were just north of a place called Grouard outside High Prairie.
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A great video, although one that leaves me feeling inadequate... faffing about harvesting my paltry 80acres. Perhaps I'll get a mini chaser bin, might make me feel happier about myself.
Not a hedge...nor tree...nor pond in sight.
It's farming Jim, but not as we know it.
The future for the UK maybe ? I hope not.....
It's farming Jim, but not as we know it.
The future for the UK maybe ? I hope not.....
yellow belly
Member
- Location
- south west lincolnshire
economy of scale does work if the farmer is capable
machinery costs in the long term is a per acre cost the life of a machine needs to be measured in acres worked not years kept (accountants consultants and bank managers are good at counting but cannot farm )
it helps to have worked on a bigger operation than you grow up with because then you can see where to improve on your own farm
machinery costs in the long term is a per acre cost the life of a machine needs to be measured in acres worked not years kept (accountants consultants and bank managers are good at counting but cannot farm )
it helps to have worked on a bigger operation than you grow up with because then you can see where to improve on your own farm