Farm Subsidies......expand or GET OUT???

[Devil's advocate]

They say the bps shouldn't even go into the farm account unless it's to reduce borrowings.

But if you live on a housing estate or an apartment block you don't get any BPS money.

So it is connected to the fact that you are a Land manager (farmer is so in the past now).

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

But if you live on a housing estate or an apartment block you don't get any BPS money.

You do. It's called social security though.

 

[ConanPB]

Should diversification be completely separated from the farm income? It is providing diversity to the business output, some years it may outperform farming, other years maybe not so. Also farming has often provided the raw materials for a diversification project (redundant farm buildings for example) and funding for the new venture.

 

[Lowland1]

Opportunities to get big or get out were few and far between at home so I went elsewhere. Here there's no subsidies but there's opportunities. So from arriving with a rucksack I now grow nearly 4000 acres of vegetables. Plenty big enough but honestly if I could go back to 20 acres of potatoes and some corn and 150 sows I'd do it tomorrow. It's unlikely because we've got kids wanting in but sometimes it's no fun.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I hear Lidl have entered into a five year contract with their egg packer cost of production plus, based on feed price.
All on the back of egg shortages as producers cut production and supermarket shelves were empty. Lidl have learned to protect their supplier base when producers stopped producing at a loss.
There is a lesson here for the other supermarkets that they need to be taught quickly by the rest of farming.

Have they sorted the rat problem in their stores yet

 

[Boomerang]

What are you going to do then @warksfarmer?
I’m continuing to grow crops at a less profitable rate and pushing diversification as hard as I can in multiple ways. All to ensure the owned farm is left to the next generation (our daughter) along with a profitable business. At the same time our standard of living increases year on year.
I couldn’t give a monkeys toss if I’m subsiding food production so long as our bottom line looks good.

Out of interest would you mind saying what the diversification are ??

 

[Bossfarmer]

I'm sure there now sayin that floatations are actually worse for compaction now.an tracks are the worst offenders.

absolute drivel, supersingles cut the ground to hell when its wet sink far deeper and water just lies in tracks, a tracked combine has a similar ground pressure per square inch as a human foot

 

[Devil's advocate]

You do. It's called social security though.

Only if you have no saving & don't have an income,

 

[4course]

Should diversification be completely separated from the farm income? It is providing diversity to the business output, some years it may outperform farming, other years maybe not so. Also farming has often provided the raw materials for a diversification project (redundant farm buildings for example) and funding for the new venture.

I think the idea that diversification should be completely seperate from the farm income is part of the problem that makes some folk take against the idea . One should look at diversification as a different crop wether crop or stock diversification from pure farming its just the same . Then it might be possible with the the blinkers off to see the opportunties that are within reach . . Mindst it could be said that the process should have been started 5-10 years if not longer ago as the writing was on the wall, but the skill set that most farmers have is a very under utilized asset .

 

[Bossfarmer]

what happens to the diversification ideas as more and more people pile into them, this has always been my concern

 

[4course]

what happens to the diversification ideas as more and more people pile into them, this has always been my concern

I dont think they will or they would have done already its a mindset thing

 

[PI Stsker]

If you could provide parking in a redundant shed, i.e if you are not keeping cattle because of lack/no profit - then ask yourself how many cars can you park in the redundant silage pit shed. Under roof parking, in a secure yard, @ least £30 a week !!
PS - fact of life, if you're a young farmer - then you need to marry a woman with a job paying well above average, who is happy to pay the houdehold bills, the holidays/days off, and the new car. If you don't have one of those, then perhaps the best relacement for the BPS is to trade the present model for one who fits this mould.
PPS - i'm typing this as i'm opening the door to the cellar - should be safe in there.

The sickening fact is my wife is an architect, and her salary after bonus’s, commission etc is nearly six figures. Which is nearly what my profit js per year farming… yet she works 9-5 no weekends and has zero work stress after hours, and don’t worry if it rains in August!
it does make you wonder if all the hours and investment is worth it!

 

[4course]

The sickening fact is my wife is an architect, and her salary after bonus’s, commission etc is nearly six figures. Which is nearly what my profit js per year farming… yet she works 9-5 no weekends and has zero work stress after hours, and don’t worry if it rains in August!
it does make you wonder if all the hours and investment is worth it!

the answer is there in your post just suggest she works an extra hour or so mon to fri and gives up a weeks holiday plus every other sat morning reckon that could well increase her remuneration by 20-25%, mindst that could backfire, ho ho

 

[PI Stsker]

the answer is there in your post just suggest she works an extra hour or so mon to fri and gives up a weeks holiday plus every other sat morning reckon that could well increase her remuneration by 20-25%, mindst that could backfire, ho ho

If I got her to work a few extra hours I could retire!

 

[ollie989898]

Should diversification be completely separated from the farm income? It is providing diversity to the business output, some years it may outperform farming, other years maybe not so. Also farming has often provided the raw materials for a diversification project (redundant farm buildings for example) and funding for the new venture.

Nothing wrong with that at all, but if actual farming isn't making any real profit and you're using diversification to prop up the rest of the farming, you are contributing to oversupply which merely perpetuates more misery for the industry at large and it is senseless ever complaining about the low price of farm product.

 

[Hilly]

Nothing wrong with that at all, but if actual farming isn't making any real profit and you're using diversification to prop up the rest of the farming, you are contributing to oversupply which merely perpetuates more misery for the industry at large and it is senseless ever complaining about the low price of farm product.

Hell of alot of it goes on ..

 

[Bury the Trash]

if actual farming isn't making any real profit and you're using diversification to prop up the rest of the farming,

but despite how its denied by some it happens ,and quite commonly if the truth were known, even as an addition to reduce personal necessary drawings from the ag side of the buisness its bound to help do what you suggest. .

 

[lloyd]

Nothing wrong with that at all, but if actual farming isn't making any real profit and you're using diversification to prop up the rest of the farming, you are contributing to oversupply which merely perpetuates more misery for the industry at large and it is senseless ever complaining about the low price of farm product.

There are plenty of people changing building use from agricultural
to storage,business use .If they hadn't had been farming in the first place
there would have been little chance of gaining pp in open countryside for
such ventures .So farming profits are much more than just face value.
People have been sticking up new broiler sheds 30,000 sq feet each
on green field sites ,try doing that coming from a different industry and
see what the planners think.

 

[ollie989898]

There are plenty of people changing building use from agricultural
to storage,business use .If they hadn't had been farming in the first place
there would have been little chance of gaining pp in open countryside for
such ventures .So farming profits are much more than just face value.
People have been sticking up new broiler sheds 30,000 sq feet each
on green field sites ,try doing that coming from a different industry and
see what the planners think.

I think the point is more if you aren't making money from farming, why would you choose to go into another business as a way of continuing to farm?

 

[lloyd]

I think the point is more if you aren't making money from farming, why would you choose to go into another business as a way of continuing to farm?

Your still missing the point that most well off farmers i know have
got rich from using all the advantages of tax and planning
that other businesses could only dream of.If you cease farming why
should the government be generous to just land owners who produce nothing?