Trying to work out fair figures

AnnieT

Member
Hi All
Im not a farmer (farmers daughter though and watching with despair the difficulties you are going through) and I work in countryside conservation. Im looking at Nitrogen credits because of Nutrient neutrality rulings. Im wanting to get some idea of real world figures for growing crops and what, if any, profit is involved - so - how much does it cost to grow 13 hectares of potatoes - and what would be the final profit be off this after all expenses. And if this 13 hectares was seeded to grass for low level livestock grazing with minimal inputs (talking a mixed farm), what would the difference be in outlay and profit?
I know this is variable across farms. Also - what of you changed an arable field to woodland - what would you lose per hectare/year?
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Hi All
Im not a farmer (farmers daughter though and watching with despair the difficulties you are going through) and I work in countryside conservation. Im looking at Nitrogen credits because of Nutrient neutrality rulings. Im wanting to get some idea of real world figures for growing crops and what, if any, profit is involved - so - how much does it cost to grow 13 hectares of potatoes - and what would be the final profit be off this after all expenses. And if this 13 hectares was seeded to grass for low level livestock grazing with minimal inputs (talking a mixed farm), what would the difference be in outlay and profit?
I know this is variable across farms. Also - what of you changed an arable field to woodland - what would you lose per hectare/year?
Complete piece of string, sorry.
 

andybk

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Mendips Somerset
many farmers pay rent , lease machinery , pay wages , some dont (i know you should cost them but many not so ) some use it to spread over other enterprises or share farm , not as simple as it sounds .
 
You wouldn't arbitarily plant 13 hectares of Potatoes unless you had a market for them, storage, equipment etc.

So you'd contract that field out for one year to a farmer who specialises in growing potatoes.

The final profit of any crop varies again by market, timing and circumstances involved - do you have to sell now or when the market is at what you think is the peak ?
 

An Gof

Member
Location
Cornwall
Hi All
Im not a farmer (farmers daughter though and watching with despair the difficulties you are going through) and I work in countryside conservation. Im looking at Nitrogen credits because of Nutrient neutrality rulings. Im wanting to get some idea of real world figures for growing crops and what, if any, profit is involved - so - how much does it cost to grow 13 hectares of potatoes - and what would be the final profit be off this after all expenses. And if this 13 hectares was seeded to grass for low level livestock grazing with minimal inputs (talking a mixed farm), what would the difference be in outlay and profit?
I know this is variable across farms. Also - what of you changed an arable field to woodland - what would you lose per hectare/year?

You would have to be mad to change an arable field to woodland. The capital loss in the land value would be considerable.
 
The problem you will have is that what is totally impractical and unprofitable for one farm might be the complete opposite on another. Potatoes are a specialist crop that requires specialist machinery and skills, and you can't just grow them on any old land- it has to be reasonable land which would probably never be put under grass because it is far too productive for that. You also seem to be approaching the question with the idea that no enterprise is making any profit which is an erroneous assumption.
 

puppet

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
sw scotland
You would have to be mad to change an arable field to woodland. The capital loss in the land value would be considerable.
Obviously some mad people about encouraged by government. Subsidies, tax-free income, inheritance tax, carbon trading.....plenty opportunities to make money without worrying about weather, global prices or a combine fire
 
Hi Annie
Amusing that none of the answers so far are what you would be looking for. One difficulty is the word profit, thats something you pay tax on so best not talked about. Scale is another thing, 13 Ha is a lot of potatoes to you and I but Im not sure it fills a truck.

What you are (might be, sorry ) looking for is gross margin per Ha, this will give you some idea of what a farm business might generate of forgo in the event of not growing a particular crop.

Beyond this Im not much help either, there will be those who know the "stubble to stubble" cost of potatoes, and plenty who know the variable or input costs, and Nix and other publications are brilliant
 

woodylane

Member
Location
Lancashire
Hi Annie
Amusing that none of the answers so far are what you would be looking for. One difficulty is the word profit, thats something you pay tax on so best not talked about. Scale is another thing, 13 Ha is a lot of potatoes to you and I but Im not sure it fills a truck.

What you are (might be, sorry ) looking for is gross margin per Ha, this will give you some idea of what a farm business might generate of forgo in the event of not growing a particular crop.

Beyond this Im not much help either, there will be those who know the "stubble to stubble" cost of potatoes, and plenty who know the variable or input costs, and Nix and other publications are brilliant
13 ha would be roughly 650t
 
13 ha would be roughly 650t

Yeah, I was gonna post the stuff below. Purely guess work.


13 hectares of potatoes is going to fill lots of trucks. I don't grow potatoes but I do know the yield is something like 10 tonnes per acre. So that's 13 x 2.47 x 10 = 321 tonnes of potatoes. Or about 11 artic loads.

321,000kg, £5 a bag of 10kg = £160,000 (Sold at the road side to the passing 32,100 cars)

Might get a few second hand tractors for that and maybe some second have machinery.
 
Yeah, I was gonna post the stuff below. Purely guess work.


13 hectares of potatoes is going to fill lots of trucks. I don't grow potatoes but I do know the yield is something like 10 tonnes per acre. So that's 13 x 2.47 x 10 = 321 tonnes of potatoes. Or about 11 artic loads.

321,000kg, £5 a bag of 10kg = £160,000 (Sold at the road side to the passing 32,100 cars)

Might get a few second hand tractors for that and maybe some second have machinery.
I think you find in reality it’s not £160,000. More like £60,000 as very few potato growers sell through their own farm shops where you’d perhaps get £5/bag. Majority are on fixed price contracts with the likes of McCain’s and Walkers.
 

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