One rule for the grain merchant and another for the farmer ....

Farma Parma

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Northumberlandia
A bit off subject but on same theme
Dad had on contract with local firm some S Barley
lets say we had 120t & one load was rejected for various reasons, it was all out the same heap from the same fields
anyhow it poss was the last load, i cant remember now.
Dad hit the roof at the time, the salesman even swore in our kitchen infront of my mother.....
Sum up they wouldnt back down, so Dad did, closed our account with them & i wont ever buy a single thing off them again.
Bearing in mind i'll spend £100k annually with the competition...
Their loss silly fools.
That was roughly 8 years ago.
 

Grains Guru

Member
Location
England
So the merchant wasn't letting the farmer make a knock for moisture, bushels weight etc was he?


I have no problem at all with knocks for moisture or bushel weight BUT I want to see a bonus for dry corn and high bushel weights. What's fair one way must be fair the other way.

I've had plenty of export markets that pay premiums for low moisture and high KG over the years, so, yes a bonus for the growers who have it or can condition it. Not all merchants can offer the same deals. Make sure you're talking with the right people.
 

Grains Guru

Member
Location
England
It always scares me when a lorry of anything leaves the farm and you have to wait for payment. The level of worry varies with the reputation of who is paying too!

If you are worrying about getting paid on produce that goes off the farm you need to seriously review your credit terms and your counter party risk. You should not let produce move without being 100% certain you are going to get paid.
 

An Gof

Member
Location
Cornwall
Trouble is if you keep going with that approach you will have nobody left to sell to.
Always try and find a way out that never shuts a door permanently but allows you to retain your dignity.
 

Grain Buyer

Member
Location
Omnipresent
A bit off subject but on same theme
Dad had on contract with local firm some S Barley
lets say we had 120t & one load was rejected for various reasons, it was all out the same heap from the same fields
anyhow it poss was the last load, i cant remember now.
Dad hit the roof at the time, the salesman even swore in our kitchen infront of my mother.....
Sum up they wouldnt back down, so Dad did, closed our account with them & i wont ever buy a single thing off them again.
Bearing in mind i'll spend £100k annually with the competition...
Their loss silly fools.
That was roughly 8 years ago.

I know malting barley tests can be a bit "subjective" at times. But it sounds like the situation got out of control quickly. Why was the buyer in your kitchen, was he summoned? You say your Dad hit the roof, and the rep swore. This sounds like both parties were at loggerheads with each other. You say the company wouldn't "Back Down", but without all the facts, could it not be possible the company had no reason to back down?

100K in the ag world could result in a margin, before costs of £1000, so might not be any fat left in the deal to pay you your loss.

As my dear old friend Gordon English (anyone remember him?) used to say, "Don't fall out with folk, because you'll never be able to get even with them later", it's a good saying for farmers and merchants alike.
 
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Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Who would you say are the big three?

Frontier, ADM, Gleadell as far as i'm concerned. wouldn't give any significant credit to anyone else. Farming history is littered with farms that were done for when a merchant went bust on them

lets not even start on the central storage pyramid selling scheme ................. ;)
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
No guaranty the big boys won't go bust either. Would have thought that MBM were one of the biggest spud merchants 15 years ago. Look what happened to them.......
 

Farma Parma

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Northumberlandia
I know malting barley tests can be a bit "subjective" at times. But it sounds like the situation got out of control quickly. Why was the buyer in your kitchen, was he summoned? You say your Dad hit the roof, and the rep swore. This sounds like both parties were at loggerheads with each other. You say the company wouldn't "Back Down", but without all the facts, could it not be possible the company had no reason to back down?

100K in the ag world could result in a margin, before costs of £1000, so might not be any fat left in the deal to pay you your loss.

As my dear old friend Gordon English (anyone remember him?) used to say, "Don't fall out with folk, because you'll never be able to get even with them later", it's a good saying for farmers and merchants alike.

My Dad fell out with them not me.
The Same Load of Barley was fine the next day after it was returned back to us & we had it independently tested.
This sort of con has & will be still going on to this day.
Reject odd loads & then Farmer sends the same load in the next day & go's thru with no issues.
The Rep came down to soften the blow id say but it all went the otherway.
2months later dad had a life changing Stroke. Yes he poss did over react but who wouldnt.
 

Grain Buyer

Member
Location
Omnipresent
My Dad fell out with them not me.
The Same Load of Barley was fine the next day after it was returned back to us & we had it independently tested.
This sort of con has & will be still going on to this day.
Reject odd loads & then Farmer sends the same load in the next day & go's thru with no issues.
The Rep came down to soften the blow id say but it all went the otherway.
2months later dad had a life changing Stroke. Yes he poss did over react but who wouldnt.

not wanting to labour the point, but the merchant in this instance gained nothing by rejecting it in the first place, and by accepting a further load demonstrates they were happy to take the contract.
 

bankrupt

Member
Location
EX17/20
Trouble is if you keep going with that approach you will have nobody left to sell to.
Always try and find a way out that never shuts a door permanently but allows you to retain your dignity.

We've had loads spuriously rejected for moisture for, among others, the following real reasons:-

(1) Lorry had blowout on way to port; boat sailed before it got there.

(2) New store not wired up in time for first day's intake.

(3) Merchant's new moisture meter, reading 2% high on first day of harvest.

We've also had loads of OSR diverted from Erith into a local Devon store who claimed the oil at 39%, subsequently admitting that, having no testing facilities, they'd made a guesstimate as much in their favour as they thought they could get away with. Our retained samples tested 43%


Fortunately, in all these cases and in others, we've negotiated a satisfactory financial settlement with no need for raised voices or for dramatic gesture on either side.
 
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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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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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