"Full service" or "by the balls"

DanniAgro

Member
of course the land owner could let the land and just collect the rent

or just abandon the land to nature

there are many different land management models
But if the farmer just lets the land and doesn't take an active part in running it, then they are judged by HRMC not to be active farmers, and will not get tax allowances.
 
Is that the agricultural equivalent of spit roasting?

Fudging gangbang more like.

If large numbers of people want to put their necks in that noose, putting money in one pocket and then taking it out of another to hand to multinationals, I'd say the job is probably fudged in the long run.

I'd be very very wary of this kind of model because it is how much of the American system, our seed, our chemical, our grain. I don't see it as being good for the independent guy.
 

oil barron

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Awful lot of knowledge of the “American” system in this thread. I don’t know any American farming area that doesn’t supply their fertilizer requirements through the local farmers coop. Seems like more of an Anglo-Germanic way of working to me.
 

fredf

Member
Location
SW Co Durham
If you can find the person to sue though, and if you do he has to have the funds. This is something that actually happened and I have no doubts that it's not an isolated incident.

Does anyone no were in the world that man went to live, did he get court and brought to justice or is he living on his ill gotten gains?

Tom
 
A customer of mine once rang and asked me to spread some lime, apologising saying he had already had some delivered so I wouldn’t need to supply.
I don’t usually do that but he is a good chap so I helped him out.
Story was he was growing a crop on such an agreement. The “lime” was barely distinguishable from roadstone. Lorries had turned up at all times of night and made hell of a mess and they sent “some bloody clown who arrived to spread it on cultivated land after heavy rain”. He’d told him where to go in no uncertain terms so wasn’t about to ask him back.
He also said that he was spraying any old cheap products on to it at very low rates whilst his friend up the road, growing the same crop for himself, was getting recommendations from the same company for expensive full rate recs.
 
I was chatting to an interested party yesterday, who enlightened a naive yours truly of the extent to which certain large distributors / intermediaries are involved in some arable operations:

A full service package to include supply of seed and all inputs, agronomy, marketing, purchase and movement, with the "farmer" being nothing more than an applicator, who gets given one balancing cheque at the end of the year.

Is this really happening?

If so, at any scale?

Great business model for the distributor...

Totally ridiculous and even I would never support such a 'service'. This is how it will go. Oh yes, Mr Farmer, can you put on the PVC stockings and we'll supply the vaseline?

Of course, the company in question gets you to sign into a supply agreement in effect for all your fertiliser and agchems and then secures the grain out of you as well. Your choice as a consumer- zero. Your arsh? Sore.
 
If a large agchem distributor/grain firm wants to put in all my seed, fert chemicals, agronomy and handle grain marketing etc and pay me a contractor rate for drilling, spraying, harvesting and hire of the land they will soon realise why I continually moan at them that the seed, fert and chemicals are too expensive and they don't pay enough for my grain.
They would become the producer (risk taker) and I, merely a middle man who gets a margin regardless of the weather or fluctuations of the grain trade.
Sounds ideal.

And that will never happen....
 

Robt

Member
Location
Suffolk
If you can find the person to sue though, and if you do he has to have the funds. This is something that actually happened and I have no doubts that it's not an isolated incident.
Yes but the majority of farmers normally live on or very close to the land. I know possibly less than 5 i can think of in 20+ years of being Ag that have moved and 3 or those emigrated!
 

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/
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