Give your views on AHDB

[wanton dwarf]

Tried to use ADHB but have not found anything useful on their site.

Very little of any productive value.

Red Tractor is worse, pay £100s for what exactly ?

 

[whiterabbit]

What really good planning putting ahdb offices and nfu offices close together then when they retire from the nfu and start at the ahdb they can keep their parking space maybe they ought to build another block for the farmers weekly as they seem unable to criticise the ahdb either I wonder why

 

[An Gof]

Tried to use ADHB but have not found anything useful on their site.

Very little of any productive value.

Red Tractor is worse, pay £100s for what exactly ?

When I add up all that I get and have access to for the amount of Cereals and Oilseeds levy I pay I think it is fantastic value. Of course if you are very large producer you might think differently. In terms of the professional time I could buy for my levy payments it’s an absolute bargain and a no brainier to keep it.

I am less impressed with the value I derive from the Beef and Lamb sector. Poor research and information that is presented in a very basic format somewhere along the line of Noddy goes Beef Farming. Added to which it seems unduly balanced towards suckler production and I haven’t any suckler cows.

 

[whiterabbit]

I see the AHDB have just had a 2 day conference in London with them congratulating themselves on all their good work they do!

No farmers were invited I’m guessing!

 

[whiterabbit]

I wonder where they stayed overnight in London I would hate to think they were stuck in some back street b&b

 

[An Gof]

Full details on Conference here

http://www.thecattlesite.com/news/5...utlook-for-uk-agriculture-in-light-of-brexit/

 

[Sandpit Farm]

Full details on Conference here

http://www.thecattlesite.com/news/5...utlook-for-uk-agriculture-in-light-of-brexit/

So they are hosting a conference on export opportunities for agriculture in light of BREXIT?

Are people really annoyed at that? I don’t get it.

 

[spin cycle]

whose idea was it to put link to survey on this forum?...whoever it was

 

[whiterabbit]

I see an gof thinks he gets fantastic value from the ahdb maybe having 47 p a ton deducted at the merchants for a ton of corn is quite painless he ought to come and see what they do to the veg industry taking a slice of your turnover irrespective of profit or loss unlike cereal growers we have to open the cheque book and physically write the cheque in our case its for half of our area payment

 

[bankrupt]

having 47 p a ton deducted at the merchants for a ton of corn is quite painless

Not so, whiterabbit.

With this year's yields here, that's more than half our margin.

 

[whiterabbit]

Even more reason bankrupt to get these bunch of comedians closed down

 

[Farmer T]

Tried to use ADHB but have not found anything useful on their site.

Very little of any productive value.

Red Tractor is worse, pay £100s for what exactly ?

To be fair to the RT you pay them around £20/30, you pay the hundreds of £££ for the honour of being inspected [emoji45]

As for the question- do the AHDB give value for money, I would simply look at the average UK yields in cereals and oil seed over the last ten years to find my answer. The whole point of a research body surely is to increase knowledge to the growers base to make them more profitable/ efficient?

 

[whiterabbit]

There here will be very little value wanton dwarf because there is hundreds of different crops in veg alone how can they do any meaningful research its impossible which is why they lift their information from seed and chemical companies

 

[cb387]

I see an gof thinks he gets fantastic value from the ahdb maybe having 47 p a ton deducted at the merchants for a ton of corn is quite painless he ought to come and see what they do to the veg industry taking a slice of your turnover irrespective of profit or loss unlike cereal growers we have to open the cheque book and physically write the cheque in our case its for half of our area payment

Totally agree. We got contacted by them a few years back (we grow some herb crops on the farm) They wanted to know what our turnover was from particular crops. I asked what they knew about there crops “nothing at all” what research did they do on these crops “nothing” what marketing benefit they could provide for these crops “nothing” Asked why I should pay them anything if they provide no benefit whatsoever.? They just said “that’s the way it is”

 

[An Gof]

I see an gof thinks he gets fantastic value from the ahdb maybe having 47 p a ton deducted at the merchants for a ton of corn is quite painless he ought to come and see what they do to the veg industry taking a slice of your turnover irrespective of profit or loss unlike cereal growers we have to open the cheque book and physically write the cheque in our case its for half of our area payment

I merely comment on my sector. There is a sunset clause in place. Get enough like minded levy payers from your sector to register in a given time period for a vote and you have the chance to shut your sector down.
I do appreciate that the level of funding individuals contribute to hort is likely to be much more than I contribute. But just because it isn’t working for you in Hort doesn’t mean it isn’t working for me in cereals and oilseeds.

 

[whiterabbit]

The trouble is an gof we are paying eye watering amounts for something we don't want or need and data that is freely available from a number of different sources which means you are benefiting from my levy contribution which is why the levy should be voluntary why should anybody pay for something they don't want

 

[wanton dwarf]

To be fair to the RT you pay them around £20/30, you pay the hundreds of £££ for the honour of being inspected [emoji45]

As for the question- do the AHDB give value for money, I would simply look at the average UK yields in cereals and oil seed over the last ten years to find my answer. The whole point of a research body surely is to increase knowledge to the growers base to make them more profitable/ efficient?

Why am I being inspected ? Do farmers all over the country farm incorrectly ? Does anyone in the public sector get inspected ? fined ? penalised so they cannot get their wages ? do they get told by someone else they are not working correctly ? are their lights in the correct position in their house ?


Yields related to what exactly ?

Does the variety of Wheat benefit your soil ? rainfall ? what about quality ?

How do the ADHB get their data ? Do they get my data ? Do they get my neighbours data ? How do you know their data is correct ?

What were the previous crops ? what level of weed pressure is on their soil ? what inputs did they have and what were the costs ? what was the growing season ? when were the crops sown ? what was the rotation ? what was the sowing rate ? was the seed treated ? what were the sprays applied ?

I don't use the ADHB data because I don't grow chasing the yield on a bit paper grown by people I don't know in somewhere for a market I don't know even exists .. I grow to a market where I can make money based on customers I know farming the land I understand for the rotation of my farm.

 

[ajd132]

I pay Niab,cmi and adas for my agronomic information. I hardly even look at the RL. I responded ages ago to the survey when I was especially annoyed about farmbench figures being in a Bayer (I think) magazine.

 

[Hindsight]

I pay Niab,cmi and adas for my agronomic information. I hardly even look at the RL. I responded ages ago to the survey when I was especially annoyed about farmbench figures being in a Bayer (I think) magazine.

But (as ever a but so do not read on!) these organisations to an extent rely/are a conduit for the AHDB funds. One can argue the AHDB do not channel funds correctly. My thoughts so pretty irrelevant really - first, NIAB have members funds but these are trivial compared to the funds available to distributors and manufacturers. Second, CMI? do they actually do any trials? genuine question as I have no involvement - thought CMI reinterpreted others published trial data. Third, ADAS has to get funding from somewhere such as AHDB/manufacturers as has no money of its own and is not at all like the ADAS/NAAS of the 1970/80s when MAFF kept it well fed with money to undertake research whether farmers wanted it or not.

My view - AHDB is in effect a conduit for that part of the levy money fed into research. More of the money is spent elsewhere over which I will not comment. If AHDB levy is terminated (as I consider there could be a groundswell of support for) then how do you/we the industry propose to fund the organisations you quote? Membership fees?

Regards,

 

[wanton dwarf]

If AHDB levy is terminated (as I consider there could be a groundswell of support for) then how do you/we the industry propose to fund the organisations you quote? Membership fees?

I pay my agronomist.
I pay ADAS.

ADHB does nothing for me, nor does Red Tractor. None of them provide any benefit to the bottom line at all ever.

Why am I paying for something which has no use what-so-ever.

The best advice comes from other farmers when we talk to each other about problems and the best part it's free and unfortunately we already paid for the privilage.