- Location
- Lincolnshire
There doesn't have to be skeletons strewn across the paddock and vultures circling for it to be a financial crisis on marginal land here, and its the bank balance that matters, not what it looks like outside or what kind of angle you put on it. If things carry on as they are this will be the third year in a row when too much rain in the winter, lack of rain in the spring and too much rain at harvest knocks upwards of the equivalent of a ton per acre off our yields in terms of raw yield, loss of quality or increased expenses. That ton per acre is what we live on, the rest covers the cost of growing it and overheads and we have done a lot to get those costs down with direct drilling where we can, moisture conservation etc. On top of that we have a government that couldn't care less about supporting crop production though they can find money for just about everything else. Never much help to build reservoir or anything else of real use to even out water supply, just regulatory obstacles in your path and prioritisation of the water supply for the leisure and tourism industry, for the golf course and racecourse.Sooo . . .
if it doesn’t rain for two weeks it’s a disaster & the worst drought ever
if it rains for a week it’s a disaster & floods & everyone wants to put in drains & get rid of the water
doesn’t sound like there is much resilience in the system . . .
So the upshot for me is if things don't pay this year then we are not going to subsidise the loss again from capital or from working off farm. The crop production side will be closed down or let out before we hit the financial buffers though I can't see many takers. Others might wish to burn capital on marginal land, we will not be doing that. Its financially unsustainable and makes no sense. The fact people continue to bid sky high prices for FBT's and pay £10k per acre for agricultural land is absolute madness in my view and won't end well if these climate extremes continue .... but what the heck do I know?