Rents

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
Very few farms nowadays dont do outside work of some sort, whether its holiday cottages, wife running a business, , non agricultural contracting
Any moves on rent has to come from govt,
 

redsloe

Member
Location
Cornwall
Daft idea in my opinion. Virus hasn't affected my day to day life or business costs at all.
Your lucky then.
Fat cattle booked for this week postponed to next week, price has dropped 10p a kg.
They said they would hold next week's price for them, I said "that doesn't sound good", he said "no".
I imagine that's another 10p. We're already at a depressed price before this. Beef was nearly £4/kg, now it's barely above £3.
I need to book more for following week.
With cereals you can cut cost, especially with the weather currently, but beef or milk you still have to feed them.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
On the basis that many commercial property tenants are asking for reductions or deferment of rents should we as farmers be asking landlords for the same ?

not corona related, but perhaps relevant ?

I lease / rent a bit over 400 ha from a neighbour who now has Parkinson’s Disease & can no longer farm. Have been for more 15 years now.
As you may be aware, the last few years here have been a bit difficult. During the last couple of years, he had reduced his rent in accordance with the reduced seasonal expectations & income.
The last 6 months of last year were like a living hell here, as well as the culmination of the last 3 years. We had a conversation ( which he initiated ) about how difficult it was & he asked me what I thought it was worth $$$ to retain access to his land, considering that there was at that stage, no chance of growing a crop. I said I would like to hang onto it if possible, but obviously I was still losing money hand over fist, with no relief in sight. I suggested that I should at least pay his Council Rates & also cover any public liability insurance he had on the land. He seemed happy with that,
Anyway, he rings me back a few months later ( we have had some good rains early this year, our soul moisture profiles are building & the future looks a bit more positive ) and says that due to the conditions, he will consider us paid up for 12 months from our last payment. So, effectively giving us 12 months rent free. But, we have had no income at all off it for the last 2 years . . .


Conversely, I know someone who leases a large block of land north west of Narrabri, from Westchester ( a Canadian ? superannuation / investment company hedge fund who own a lot of agricultural land in Australia.) I don’t know how much land there is, but he was paying $1million / year, in advance, & hadn’t planted a crop in it for at least 2 years. Hopefully this year will make it all worth it . . .
 
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I have suffered the same five months of wet weather as you @Clive

I have reduced income because customers are worried about their cash flow. I have quarries closing weekly and hauliers too, so even if I had a lot to do I likely as not couldn’t supply.

My wife and my accountant have been looking into what money/grants we are eligible for. Nothing, not one penny. I’ve deferred our tax (interest will have to be paid) and it’s looking likely I will need to renegotiate finance.

Anybody care to help me out financially?
I doubt it.

If you don’t like it, do something else.
 
Your lucky then.
Fat cattle booked for this week postponed to next week, price has dropped 10p a kg.
They said they would hold next week's price for them, I said "that doesn't sound good", he said "no".
I imagine that's another 10p. We're already at a depressed price before this. Beef was nearly £4/kg, now it's barely above £3.
I need to book more for following week.
With cereals you can cut cost, especially with the weather currently, but beef or milk you still have to feed them.
I'm in the same situation, will have twice as many cattle for next week now, and so will every one else.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
But, Clive, you are not looking at reduced output............in fact if the prices for your production hold/increase your income could in fact increase too.
I realize what you say about commercial tenants taking a rent furlough, I am in the same spot too............but, this is a tough time for everyone and if your business is still able to function I personally would consider it bad form to complain.
Just suck it up and plunge forward...........good luck whatever you decide.

no like many i am looking at significantly reduced output - this winters weather will half my average yields

i doubt prices will double
 

fgc325j

Member
On the basis that many commercial property tenants are asking for reductions or deferment of rents should we as farmers be asking landlords for the same ?
I remember that during the Foot and Mouth crisis, 18-19 years ago!, the Duke of Grosvenor gave his farming tenants a rent-free
period, could some one confirm that fact?. But i doubt wether that sets a precedence for other landlords.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I can imagine that any arable farm asking for a rent reduction due to Covid-19 will get a pretty quick response

i’m saying due to weather - just as other industry businesses are due to c19

why is it that farmers are incapable of thinking like other businesses ? as soo as they saw possibility of lower output they ask for holidays or cuts so why don’t we ?
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Your lucky then.
Fat cattle booked for this week postponed to next week, price has dropped 10p a kg.
They said they would hold next week's price for them, I said "that doesn't sound good", he said "no".
I imagine that's another 10p. We're already at a depressed price before this. Beef was nearly £4/kg, now it's barely above £3.
I need to book more for following week.
With cereals you can cut cost, especially with the weather currently, but beef or milk you still have to feed them.
Trying my best not too be the spreader of doom . But a lot did not plant grain in the Autumn, seed still in the shed , they have all been out in this wonderfull dry spell to plant spring crops . Looks like the axe of doom may hit them twice if they dont get rain soon
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I remember that during the Foot and Mouth crisis, 18-19 years ago!, the Duke of Grosvenor gave his farming tenants a rent-free
period, could some one confirm that fact?. But i doubt wether that sets a precedence for other landlords.

I can't confirm the facts, but I remember that too. Grosvenor then took umbrage when lots of those same tenants served notice of rent reviews afterwards.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Is the issue not that there are still plenty of other farmers still willing to pay full rent if you walked away? Where as currently the industrial units won’t be filled again in a hurry.

im not sure that competition exists as it used to quite as strongly

i was speaking to a farmer locally a month ago (pre c19) who was walking away from 300ac as rent was silly and landlord (church) unreasonable - asked me if i wanted the land ... i said no
 
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Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
A lot of smaller Arable farms rely on other external income to support there businesses!
I could name a number of forum members that will have lost off farm income at the moment, personally I’ve had one of my big engineering contacts suspended with a local airport. That one job alone is 10’s of thousands a year of lost income! How many farms will have office/holiday let’s, camp sights, commercial units etc.
Fortunately I own the majority of my land but I know many don’t and will be struggling with loss of income to pay bills.

very much the case - although the farm is not subsidised by my other businesses some of them (property mostly) is significantly down on income already and will get worse

those that use diversification to fund their farming hobby (a LOT of farmers imo) are going to see just how expensive their farming habit is this year !
 

chipchap

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
South Shropshire
Just a small time sheep farmer here and it’s going to cost me between now and September of lost revenue from camp sites/holiday let’s/ other non farming enterprises. All my ground is rented :(
The trouble is you don’t want to be letting on to your landlord or his agent how much income you were getting from your diversifications???
 
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Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
On the basis that many commercial property tenants are asking for reductions or deferment of rents should we as farmers be asking landlords for the same ?

No, unless the tenant has diversified into a sector that has been affected e.g. tea rooms. Particularly if the rent went up as the landlord wanted a slice of the action, having not invested in the scheme in the first place.

Generally, a tenancy is a fixed level according to the long term productive value - farmers take the weather and market risk/rewards. I'll bet you're glad you have CFAs where the pain is shared?
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Daft idea in my opinion. Virus hasn't affected my day to day life or business costs at all.

you are lucky ! even on our simple arable farm i’ve lost an employee (dad) as he's isolated and not PAYE so can not claim 80% of his wage

getting stuff done (tyres fitted) and parts is already getting tricky, a new 10,000sq ft shed can no longer be built this year etc ... . and this has only just begun

i hear dairy farmers are tipping away milk and prices are down on a lot of meat ... all that defies logic right now though !
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

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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