Issue 31 - Fram Farmers

What’s in this issue:
5.
11.
13.
15.
Learning from the experts
Ag Chem financed by grain
Buy-back contract on Skyfall
Maize advice from Grainseed
5
11
13
15
Farmers cooperating
Beet Group’s 30th anniversary
The Wickham Beet Group in Suffolk,
which will be 30 years old in 2014,
recently joined AtlasFram to further
benefit its Members by helping to contain
its operating costs. We met up with Nigel
Holland, who was one of the founders
and the man responsible for planning its
annual campaign since day one.
What started as an idea conceived by two
neighbouring farmers as a means of
reducing the cost of harvesting their sugar
beet has, since 1984, developed into a
highly successful group involving 11 local
farming businesses which collectively grow
3250 acres of the crop. As Members of the
Wickham Beet Group they share in the
benefits of mutual cooperation, a concept
with which they are very familiar as almost
all are individual Members of AtlasFram.
The Group started when neighbouring
Suffolk farmers Nigel Holland and Richard
Hayward, who each grew 70 acres of sugar
beet, concluded that instead of individually
operating their own single-row harvesters
they could both significantly reduce their
costs by cooperating. That year their
respective farming businesses, H.J. Holland
& Sons and R. Hayward & Son, invested in
a three-row Standen harvester.
Immediately, the two originators began to
benefit from faster, lower-cost harvesting
and others became interested in the
concept. Before long Nigel and Richard had
been joined by four other local farming
businesses, J.H. Kemball, Greenfield
Farms, F.C. Taylor & Son and Vernon
Wentworth. Between them the six
Members grew 1000 acres of sugar beet,
all of which was destined for processing at
British Sugar’s Ipswich factory. To handle
the greater acreage they invested £49,000
in the first six-row Matrot sugar beet
harvester to be sold in the UK by importer
Melford Machinery.
In addition to the significant cost reductions
which resulted from the use of a single
shared harvester there were other benefits,
not least of which was the ability to lift beet
at the most opportune time. Members with
heavy land wanted their crops lifted early,
while those on light land wanted to wait
and the Group’s ability to meet these
disparate requirements made a significant
difference to the individual farms,
particularly in a difficult season.
It’s a ‘Pick and Mix’
New Year!
By Mark Haydon,
Managing Partner
This year has
kicked off with
encouraging
boosts for the
region’s small to medium agriculture
linked enterprises through both grants
and government help for all businesses
looking to expand. However, as we
emerge from the dampest winter on
record, tax planning should now be
almost complete.
Let’s look first at those Agri-Tech Grants.
They are a welcome double lift for farmers
and the local agricultural sector in general
with the launch, through the Eastern AgriTech Initiative, of two grant schemes
totalling £2.5m.
Under the Agri-Tech Growth Fund, grants
of between £25,000 - £150,000 will
support product development and
improve agricultural productivity. The
second is a £540,000 Research,
Development and Prototyping Fund, to
help support R & D of new products or
processes. The grants range from
£10,000 - £60,000.
SMEs like farms, food manufacturers and
engineering businesses that support the
agricultural or food manufacturing supplychains, are all eligible.
Growth Vouchers
Whiting & Partners was among the first
local accountancy firms to accept the
Government's Growth Vouchers, which
began last month. We’re excited to be
part of the program and look forward to
helping local SMEs achieve their aims and
objectives.
Our specialist and industry sector teams
are always searching for government
support to reinforce our activities and so
reduce costs for clients and non-clients
alike. Good opportunities like this do not
occur very often.
Growth and development assistance is
also available through the government
sponsored Growth Accelerator
Programme. If you intend to move your
business forward and grow turnover, staff
numbers, capacity or all three, then this is
worth consideration.
Tax Planning
Most of us welcome the coming of a new
year on the eve of December 31; some
celebrate the Chinese New Year on
January 31, and my colleagues in general
practice accounts delayed their
celebrations until February 1. However,
those working on taxation are governed by
a series of year-round dates.
April 5, less than a month away, is
probably the most important. It signals the
end of the tax year and a line can be
drawn under a number of annual reliefs
and exemptions. The new tax year
approaches, so it’s time to make sure all
of the current year’s allowances have been
used.
Personal allowance, ISA allowances and
capital gains tax exemption are all reliefs
that operate on an annual fiscal basis.
They cannot be carried forward from one
tax year to another, use them or lose
them!
The annual allowance for pension savings
can be carried forward from year to year,
but with a time limit attached. And again,
April 5 is the key date by which some
unused relief must be used or lost.
www.whitingandpartners.co.uk
Most exemptions operate on an individual
basis and this dull month of February
lends itself for reviewing your tax affairs
and ensuring that you will use up all the
reliefs and allowances that might
otherwise disappear on April 6.
So despite the miserable weather,
wintertime blues and the Ides of March
upon us, it does seem that we really could
have something to celebrate in this the
early part of 2014 - so Happy New Year,
whenever it may be!
Mark Haydon
Whiting & Partners Farming Group
T: 01354 652304
E: markhaydon@whitingandpartners.co.uk
Greenwood House, Greenwood Court,
Skyliner Way, Bury St Edmunds IP32 7GY
Registered to carry on audit work and regulated for a range
of investment business activities by the Institute of C hartered
A ccountants in England and W ales.
Founded over 80 years ago,
Whiting & Partners now have eight
offices across East Anglia with
15 partners and 130 staff.
An independent firm, we offer
traditional accountancy practice
alongside many specialist
and niche services.
For more information call
01284 752313
CEO Comment
Innovation is the key
Innovation is at the heart of AtlasFram
and a key driver for new initiatives. As
your ‘eyes and ears’ we’re always
looking out for what’s coming over the
horizon, be it something that will
benefit your business or may threaten
it. Our team of professionals constantly
monitor market fundamentals, enabling
them to spot and assess changes in
trends, which we use to help you stay
ahead of the game.
An excellent example is the fertiliser pool
which we launched in March 2013 to
enable you to benefit from highly
competitive prices for urea, reduce your
exposure to volatile markets and provide
guaranteed delivery. It has been a great
success and saved some of you £15£20/t, a sizeable benefit that could not
have been obtained elsewhere. Now, we
are extending the concept to Ammonium
Nitrate.
Fuel is a major input and the importance
of having a fixed price plus guaranteed
delivery led to a quadrupling of the volume
which AtlasFram purchased at 64.45ppl
on behalf of participating Members last
harvest. We have just finalised a pilot
scheme for longer-term fixed price
purchasing which will enable those
involved to purchase fuel up to 12 months
in advance. More details to follow!
On page 11 you can read about the
exciting AFG (Ag-Chem Financed by
Grain) initiative which will enable those
who commit grain to our Crop Marketing
Department to purchase your ag-chem
requirements now, but delay payment until
September, thereby helping cash-flow, so
important to Members given the pressures
of last year’s harvest.
Innovation is also taking many other
forms, one of which was suggested by Ian
Caley, our Group Accountant, who enjoys
flying micro-aircraft. Utilising his extensive
knowledge we have invested in a
Quadcopter, a small, highly-advanced
aerial surveillance/imaging platform to
carry out ‘precision field walking’. The
Quadcopter is used to ‘fly’ fields initially
and quickly highlight problem areas that
need to be walked, helping the agronomist
to prioritise their workload. We are
currently developing a commercial
package for this service, so watch this
space!
At AtlasFram we’re doing some smart
things with electronics, an example being
our new PDF Hub. This enables suppliers
to send invoices as PDF files, which are
read electronically and the information
entered automatically into our accounts
system. This enables us to operate much
more efficiently and keep costs to a
minimum.
Our new Members’ website has been very
well received. It enables you to look up
previous orders, place orders 24/7, search
and book events and track grain traded
through our Crop Marketing Department,
to name but a few. It’s a massive step
forward in interactive technology and puts
us ahead in our sector. If you have not
already logged on to the Members area,
I would urge you to do so.
Benchmarking your farm against other
comparable farms is essential to improve
business performance. AtlasFram would
like to hear from Members who would
value a group benchmarking service.
Given enough demand, we will put
together a new benchmarking service,
based on anonymised Member data and
available exclusively to Members. If you
are interested, please let me know.
Finally, I’d like to highlight EDGE
Apprenticeships in Food & Farming, an
innovative initiative which was launched
12 months ago to help tackle the skills
shortages and widening age gap in these
sectors. This industry-led scheme, in
which AtlasFram is a partner, aims to
develop and employ young people,
equipping them with the skills for a long,
rewarding career. By 2021 14% fewer
20-year-olds will be available to work in
farming, so if you’re having a problem
recruiting staff now it will only get worse,
unless we all take action now. That may
mean taking on an apprentice so you can
pass on your skills or simply using every
opportunity to tell those who are not
involved in agriculture what exciting career
opportunities it can offer young people.
Richard Anscombe
Chief Executive
AtlasFram Group Limited
Station Road, Framlingham
Woodbridge, Suffolk IP13 9EE
Tel: 01728 727700
E-mail: mail@atlasfram.co.uk
Fax: 01728 727701
Every precaution has been taken to ensure that the
material published in Farmers First is accurate at the
time of printing. For further details about any of the
information featured in this edition please call Ashley
Gilman at the AtlasFram Group on 01728 727700, or
Julian Cooksley at Kendalls PR on 01394 610022.
3
Member Profile – Wickham Beet Group (Continued from page 1)
After four years the Group replaced its
original Matrot six-row harvester with another
similar model and after a similar period a
tanker machine from Holmer was purchased
to meet the requirement for greater harvesting
capacity. The need for this had come about
after more local farming businesses had
joined the Group, including Capel St. Andrew
Farms, Greenwell Farms, Raymond Herring
and Westrope Farming. A.W. Mortier came on
board some 10 years ago after they decided
not to replace their own six-row self-propelled
harvester and were joined in 2008 by F. G.
Taylor & Sons.
Planning is the key
With a number of its Members growing sugar
beet on heavy land, planning the harvesting
campaign carefully to ensure that all gain
maximum benefit is essential. Starting in
September the campaign normally runs until
December, with each Member entitled to have
40% of their beet lifted by the end of October,
a further 30% in November and the remainder
in December and January. The key to that lies
in meticulous planning and the flexibility to
adapt to changing conditions.
Each year in August, Wickham Beet Group
Members provide Nigel with details of their
crop, tell him when they will want them
harvested and provide a map showing field
and clamp locations. Nigel then produces a
harvesting plan which is given to each of the
Members and the harvesting team. He also
visits each site with the British Sugar-
appointed haulier to GPS-log the location of
every clamp, which helps to minimise any
issues that may arise when loading the
Group’s quota of 520 loads per four-week
period.
Equipped with a 28m³ holding which can be
discharged in less than 40 seconds via a
1.85m-wide elevator, the T3 also has fourwheel/automatic steering and runs on 900/60
R32 front tyres, with 6020/70 R38 on the rear
axle.
Higher output
Harvesting six rows and operating at 6-8 kph,
the £450,000-plus machine has harvested up
to 52 acres of sugar beet in a 10.5-hour
working day on heavy land and 63 acres in 12
hours on light land.
Operating alongside it is a Holmer Terra
Variant sugar beet chaser, which greatly
reduces the amount of ‘racking’ caused by
tractors and trailers running in the field when
conditions are difficult, a problem which has
even made some growers on heavy land think
about giving up the crop. Using a dedicated
chaser wagon to cart beet from the harvester
to a field-edge clamp, where it is loaded by a
Maus self-propelled cleaner loader onto a lorry
parked on the road, the system also avoids
the problem of tractors and trailers depositing
mud on public roads.
The Wickham Beet Group operates on a notfor-profit basis and has worked well for its
Members. One of the big advantages, says
Nigel, is that because it operates entirely for
Latest Holmer T3 harvester, driven by David Cunnell who works for Group Member Westrope
Farming, is a major advance on its predecessor, delivering 20% greater daily output.
4
the Members it can be very flexible, the aim
being to avoid rejections caused by disease or
frost. Three years ago, for example, frost was
a major problem for many growers and
countless beet were either left un-harvested or
rejected by the factory. During that period the
Group worked together very closely to
minimise the impact of frost damage by
carefully monitoring crops and then managing
the harvesting and clamping operations
accordingly. As a result, across the entire
Group only two loads were lost out of more
than 1500.
Having experienced every conceivable
combination of crops and conditions over the
last 30 years, Nigel has no doubts about the
benefits which the Group provides for its
Members, some of whom would otherwise
have given up growing the crop. He also
appreciates the benefits of belonging to
AtlasFram, through which all spares and fuel
are purchased, generating significant savings
in operating costs, which directly benefit the
Members.
John Taylor, Chairman of the Wickham Beet
Group, states: “As individual Members of
AtlasFram we all appreciate the benefits of
cooperation, which is part of the reason that
the Wickham Beet Group works so well.
“The biggest advantage has to be the benefits
of purchasing fuel and Ad Blue through the
Group. Philip and David, who operate the
machines, are now responsible for ordering the
fuel they need in the field and can do so in the
knowledge that AtlasFram are managing both
the cost and delivery, which could be to any of
the Members’ farms on which we operate.
This is a very, very flexible system and means
that they only need to make one ‘phone call,
knowing that the fuel will be delivered to them
on time and in the correct location.
“Last year was an expensive season to lift
beet, but we have noticed that the new
harvester uses a lot less fuel per hectare than
the previous machine, added to which
AtlasFram are achieving better prices, which is
the icing on the cake. Achieving a low cost of
harvesting is very important for the group. I
am also very pleased with the condition in
which we have left the Members’ fields after
harvesting their beet, helping to protect
following crops.”
Next Generation Council
Learning from the experts
via Twitter, rather than the information which
AtlasFram had sent to his father, Tim
realised that there was a potential
information gap between generations.
Talking about it with neighbouring young
farmer James Schwier, he realised that this
was becoming increasingly common in the
farming sector.
The Next Generation Council, which was
formed to ensure that AtlasFram remains
relevant to young farmers, was recently
addressed by Douglas Inglis, Farms
Director – East Anglia and South East –
for Velcourt, Europe’s leading Farming
Company. The company’s Direct Farm
Management Business, which
incorporates 88 clients, 41 business units
and 52,800 ha, also has 41 advisory
clients in the arable and dairy sectors.
One of those who attended was Tim
Galloway (pictured), who was instrumental in
founding the Next Generation Council. Tim
is involved in his family’s business which
specialises in whole farm contracting
throughout Essex. In addition to their own
250 acres, the business now operates 1800
acres of contract farming arrangements, as
well as contract spraying an additional 700
acres and carrying out a large amount of
contract Avadex application. Having found
out about a forthcoming Pie & Pint meeting
To try to fill the void he and James invited
AtlasFram’s Group Business Manager Ashley
Gilman to visit and from that discussion the
Next Generation Council was born. Since
then, AtlasFram has also made increasing
use of Twitter as a way of communicating
information to its younger members.
Having studied agriculture at Writtle and
Plumpton, Tim has been involved in his
family farming business for the last six years.
An active member of Young Farmers, most
recently as Chairman of Ongar Young
Farmers, as well as a number of other
farming-related organisations, he values the
benefits of AtlasFram membership and is
keen to see the Group continue to lead
the way.
“AtlasFram is very forward thinking in its
approach and I like that. To keep it moving
forward it will be essential to involve the
younger generation so that there is a
constant flush of new people coming
through who are enthusiastic about the
agricultural industry, passionate about their
own businesses and willing to contribute
their experiences, knowledge and vision.
“The Next Generation Council has been
going for about a year now and has around
25 members, but interest is really starting to
pick up. We have two meetings a year, in
June and December, at which everyone is
involved in the discussion. There are many
people out there who, like me, are reaching
the end of their time in Young Farmers and
the Next Generation Council provides an
exciting, intellectually stimulating environment
through which they can channel their
enthusiasm for the industry and really make
a difference.”
Ashley Gilman adds:
“It is exciting to have been involved in the Next
Generation Council from the outset, helping to
get it up and running at a time when
succession planning and good management
are so important. Earlier in my career I was
very fortunate to have worked as a Farm
Manager for Velcourt and had the benefit of
fantastic support from the company’s highly
experienced Farms Directors. Such a
structured programme for developing
management skills is rare within the farming
industry and a key challenge of coming into a
farm business is gaining the respect of the
workforce. Velcourt are particularly skilled in
this area and have an excellent infrastructure
for developing their staff, which is why I asked
Doug to pass on the benefits of his
experience at the last meeting.”
AtlasFram is currently organising the next
meeting of the Next Generation Council,
which will be held in June, include a visit to a
farming business and feature a guest speaker
to promote further discussion and learning.
Future Grain gain EIS approval
Future Grain, the Beccles based
advanced processing and grain storage
facility has received advanced
assurance of its EIS tax relief status
from HMRC. As a result, eligible farmers
could receive a 30% saving on the
investment under the EIS scheme.
Future Grain, which was awarded a £1
million grant by Defra to build a ‘state of the
art’ grain processing facility, will start work
on the first phase
already in
place to
increase the
size of the facility further.
of 10,000 tonnes within the next few
months. Phase two will add a further
17,000 tonnes of storage and plans are
Future Grain will be a farmer-owned
business, with the grain marketing carried
out by AtlasFram and Dewing Grain.
5
Supplier Profile – Abel Energy
Solar PV scheme improves farm
energy security and income
With energy prices continuing to rise,
the need for energy security has never
been greater, particularly in the energyintensive agricultural industry, which is
also under pressure to demonstrate its
green credentials within the supply
chain.
To be eligible for the FIT the installation
must be carried out by an installer who is
registered under the Micro Generation
Certification Scheme (MCS). In accordance
with MCS, an Energy Performance
Certificate (EPC) - Band D or above - is
required to receive the higher rate of FIT.
D J Raker Ltd, a farming business based at
Croxton in Norfolk which produces arable
crops and vegetables, has been a Member
of AtlasFram since 2009 and purchases its
electricity through the Group.
In the case of D J Raker an EPC exemption
letter was required because their system is
ground-mounted. Planning permission had
already been obtained, a condition of it
being granted was that a hedge be planted
at the back of the array to provide
screening. Due to the size of the system a
G59 was also required by the Distribution
Network Operator (DNO). A G59 is a
consent from the DNO to connect to the
national grid, and is required for larger
systems. The output of the installation is
greater than 30 kW therefore an export
meter was fitted to calculate the amount of
kWh exported by the system into the
national grid.
Completed in October 2013, the Raker
project took 10 days and involved the
installation of 200 JA Solar 250w panels,
which were fitted to a MAGE aluminium
frame and fixed in place using helical
screws. The panels are connected to three
SMA Tripower TL inverters which convert
the DC which is generated by the array into
AC for consumption. The array is
connected to a pump housing fuse box.
Sited on half an acre of poor agricultural
land, the installation has already produced
6502.4 kWh, which equates to £806.29 of
FIT income. This output was achieved from
October to February, the worst months for
solar generation, and the output is set to
quadruple during the summer months.
At the start of 2013, brothers Henry and
Edward Raker began looking at the
possibility of investing in renewable
technologies to reduce the farm’s electrical
overheads whilst making a return on their
financial outlay thanks to government
incentives. Having looked at a number of
technologies, including an anaerobic
digester, they concluded that Solar PV was
the most attractive option because of its
minimal maintenance costs.
In June, an on-site survey was conducted
by Abel Energy, a preferred installer of the
AtlasFram Group, following which D J
Raker opted to install a 50 kW groundmounted solar array.
Solar PV is eligible for the Government
Feed in Tariff (FIT) and although the rates
vary based on the size of installation, it is
guaranteed for 20 years, retail price
indexed and regulated by OFGEM.
Combined with the export tariff and import
savings, the installation of Solar PV offers a
secondary tax-free income with a return on
investment which is usually greater than
that available from a High Street bank.
Henry Raker
6
Not only are Henry and Edward Raker now
benefiting from a secondary income but are
also able to use the electricity which is
produced to irrigate during summer months,
without needing to import any electricity.
The brothers commented: “The planning
process and installation were managed very
efficiently. We are happy with the service
provided and would recommend Abel
Energy to any others who are contemplating
installing a scheme of this type.”
Abel Energy estimate that during Year 1
Raker’s installation should generate £5937
in FIT, produce £1096 in export income and
save £2007 in electricity import costs, a
total of £9040, which is equivalent to a
return on investment of 15.9%. These
figures are based on a FIT tariff of 12.57p
and an export tariff of 4.64p
Abel Energy is a family run Norfolk based
company supplying turnkey renewables
within East Anglia. Working with AtlasFram it
is able to offer Members a 5% discount on
installation.
For further details contact Abel Energy
on 01953 88 44 86 or go to
www.abelenergy.co.uk.
Website update
The development of the AtlasFram
website has created a number of major
benefits for members and more will
undoubtedly follow.
A key advantage of the new website is
on-line ordering, which is seeing rapidly
increasing usage. Since the service was
launched last year we have received an
average of 250 orders
per month, even
through the winter.
Once the growing
season begins in
earnest we expect
that number to
increase significantly.
Over the last 12 months we
have noticed that farming
businesses are changing
their web browser, with
many moving away from
Internet Explorer to newer
products. We have therefore
commissioned new
development work on the
website to ensure that all
browsers are supported,
including Internet Explorer 8,
9, 10 and 11, together with
Google Chrome, Firefox,
Safari and Opera will all be
available from April onwards.
More than 50 per cent
of Members now use
the website to view
their accounts or
place orders, more
than we originally
envisaged at this stage, highlighting just
how useful Members are finding this
service. More than 40% of the orders
placed on-line are now made outside of
normal office hours.
It is important to stress that the motive
behind the development of on-line
ordering is purely to make it more
convenient for Members, allowing you to
place orders out of hours, 24/7, and
providing remote access to all the
information you need to operate your
business. It also means that rather than
simply being ‘order takers’ the highlyskilled staff are able to spend more of their
time more productively giving Members
professional advice on the markets and
prices, which we regard as being much
more of an added benefit.
On-line ordering will also allow us to
capture and aggregate orders, making
processing those orders more efficient.
The speed of this process is efficient for
Members on farm as well. For example, a
farm business placed three fuel orders in
under one minute on one particular day.
It is a win-win situation, creating benefits
for members and enabling AtlasFram to
operate more efficiently, which will
ultimately allow us to further improve the
service and prices we offer.
To extend the capabilities of the website
we have just commissioned an ordering
App which will require only the smallest
amount of signal to operate and enable
Members to place orders online even
when they are out of range of a 3G signal.
The FREE App will be available in the
Apple and Android stores by June.
7
Supplier Profile – DuPont
Had a good wash lately?
The focus this spring will very much be
on good sprayer hygiene practice such
as tank washout.
“Don’t cut corners by not cleaning out the
sprayer properly before switching crops.
Some herbicides require a more stringent
washout procedure than others,” says
DuPont herbicide product manager Mike
Ashworth. “DuPont only support the use
of All Clear® Extra with its SU’s and those
ALS tank mixes approved on its label as
these have all been tested for washout
safety. Generic SU’s have not been tested
and so cannot be supported.”
Growers should always consult product
labels for specific washout requirements,
he advises.
DuPont’s SU herbicides, branded SX,
have numerous advantages over the older
DF formulations, such as being fully
soluble in water, so the active ingredient is
available in an optimal form and therefore
works more consistently under a range of
environmental conditions. Better solubility
means there are no particles to settle out
in the sprayer, which leads to a much
lower risk of washout issues onto sensitive
crops.
“With the new SX washout procedure,
sprayer tank-washout times and washing
volumes can typically be reduced by up to
80% compared with the washout
procedure for older SU herbicides,” says
Mr Ashworth.
Sprayer design can also help minimise the
risks of cross contamination and washout
issues. Here are some tips from Chafer
Machinery Ltd to make the most of
cleaning a Guardian trailed sprayer with All
Clear® Extra.
SPRAYER WASHOUT TIPS
• Spray nozzles – use clean water to
clean nozzle body and tip
• Triple/quad nozzle bodies – turn nozzles
to remove trapped residue
• Purge the spraylines – removes residue
left inside pipework and at sprayline
ends
• Sprayers fitted with low pressure purge
(i.e. non air shut off) – open the purge
valve and run spray lines at full pressure
one at a time
• Sprayers fitted with air shut off – purge
the spraylines at high pressure
• Filter – don’t just rinse. Remove and
clean manually with brush and leave to
soak in All Clear® Extra. Having a spare
filter mesh is recommended. Also rinse
bottom of filter housing
• Induction hopper – clean thoroughly,
including around the rim
• Main tank – run rinse system at high
pressure and recirculate the wash water
• Open agitator jet as this will swirl liquid
at the bottom of the tank
• Wet tank sight gauges – check sight
tube is thoroughly washed. Drain it
numerous times
• Pump – clean by recirculating wash
water. Diaphragm pumps can trap
chemical between the diaphragms and
non-returns. Drain the hose from the
base of the pump as this is an area of
possible contamination/sediment
build-up
• In field sprayer wash down. All new
sprayers are fitted with a wash reel for
this purpose
• Sprayer valves – turning valves to all
positions ensures every pipe is cleaned
and that all sections are turned on/off
separately from each other
• Pressure regulation valve – once rinsed
on high pressure, make sure pressure is
lowered too, otherwise residues may be
left on the return side of the valve
• Tank drain – open the tank drain valves
to make sure some rinse liquid comes
out. There is a sediment trap above
the ball.
Washout – best practice
• Always start with a clean sprayer
• Ensure sprayer is maintained in good
working order and is regularly checked
under the NST scheme.
• Always follow product labels, paying
particular attention to:
- compatibility guidance
- specific washout requirements
• Ensure sprayer is thoroughly cleaned
when moving between crops
• Ensure all visible chemical deposits are
removed.
9
Ag Chem Financed by Grain Scheme
Atlasfram launches scheme to
help Members’ cashflow
Two difficult harvests, lower prices for
agricultural commodities and rising
input costs have meant that this
season’s cash flow is under particular
pressure on some farms.
To help Members who may find
themselves in this situation AtlasFram has
launched its AFG (Ag-chem Financed by
Grain) initiative. This will enable those with
grain committed to our Crop Marketing
Department to purchase their ag-chem
requirements now, but delay payment until
September, three months beyond the
normal payment-due date in June.
“We are looking to help Members because
it fits in with the ethos of the AtlasFram
Group, which operates purely to serve the
best interests of those who belong to and
own it,” explains Andrew Merton, Crop
Inputs Manger. “We send out early-order
forms for ag-chems in February and
products are delivered onto farms in
March, April and May. Payment normally
falls due in June, so Members have to
settle the invoice for these products up to
three months before they receive any
income from that crop, which puts
pressure on cash flow in the run up to and
during harvest.
“While recognising the fundamental
importance of cash flow on our own
business, it has given AtlasFram the
opportunity to leverage the size of our
business and our unique position, as the
foremost purchasing and grain marketing
co-operative in the UK, to provide another
real benefit back to our Membership at a
time when they really need it.”
Being operated solely for the benefits of
Members and with more than £2.5 million
of reserves, AtlasFram considered carefully
what it could do to take the burden off
Members during this period and has taken
action. The initiative was quickly taken
forward by Andrew and Nick Hindle, our
new Financial Controller then quickly given
the green light by the Board.
“Members will be able to purchase agchems through the AFG initiative based on
their commitment to market grain through
AtlasFram,” Andrew explains. “Payment
will be deferred by up to three months,
from June until September, at which time
they will have received payment for at
least part of their grain. We will work
individually with each Member to tailor it to
their specific requirements, so those
wishing to take up the initiative should
contact us to talk it through.
“While trade suppliers offer similar
schemes, the big difference is in the cost.
Whereas they look to make a profit from
offering this service, and typically charge
around 8% on the balance owed, we are
only looking to cover our costs and charge
a flat rate of 1.99% over the base rate, an
unattainable rate elsewhere for the
majority of our Membership. Although our
suppliers will be paid at the normal time,
participating Members will have an
additional three months of finance at very
low cost, funded from AtlasFram Group
cash, without the inconvenience, expense
and delay of having to go to their bank to
extend overdraft facilities.
“I am delighted that we have launched this
new scheme to support our Members,
and we expect a proportion of our
Members who use us to market their grain
to take up this innovative scheme.”
11
Crop Marketing
Min-£20 buy-back contract on
step-change variety
AtlasFram in conjunction with ADM
Direct, has launched a buy-back
contract for the exciting new RAGT
Seeds variety Skyfall, which represents
a step-change in the UK bread wheat
market. The highest yielding Group 1
breadmaking variety, it will be available
to grow through AtlasFram on a
minimum premium of £20 per tonne for
autumn 2014-drilled crops.
Described as the Holy Grail of milling
wheat for its combination of Group 1
milling quality, strong agronomic profile
and high yields Skyfall looks set to
outperform all other Group 1 wheats
across all UK regions. Offering a yield of
102% of control, compared with 96% for
Solstice, it rivals market-leading G4 feed
wheat JB Diego, the strong economic
case for growing this new variety is
supported by a number of other important
factors. Short, stiff strawed and early
maturing, Skyfall produces bold grains and
has attracted strong interest from endusers. It also offers resistance to Orange
Wheat Blossom Midge, has the Pch1
eyespot resistance gene, is suited to
lighter soils where high-potential feed
wheats struggle and according to
Recommended List figures, performs well
as a second wheat.
wheat market. Skyfall has been added to
the 2014/2015 recommended List with a
provisional nabim Group 1 rating.
Additional baking tests on commercial
milling bulk crops have been taking place
and results are expected in March to
validate this rating. Feedback from endusers has been extremely positive.
We identified the potential of Skyfall early
on in its development, which allowed us to
secure seed at competitive prices before
others became aware of its potential. This
resulted from the close working
relationship between AtlasFram and ADM
Direct, a sister company of ADM Milling
who work closely with RAGT and are
supportive of the variety.
In a year when wheat prices have been
trending down, the milling premium is
becoming more important as a percentage
of the price - £20 per tonne is much more
important at £140/t than at £180/t! With
limited supplies of Skyfall available for
sowing this autumn, any Member who is
interested in taking up this variety on the
min-£20 buy-back contract should
contact us as soon as possible.
We also offer minimum-price contracts on
other varieties of quality wheat.
With Solstice being superseded, Skyfall
has come along at just the right time and
looks like being a variety that the milling
sector has been waiting for, so it could
capture a significant share of the quality
“There has been a high uptake on Skyfall
seed already because it looks to be such
a promising variety. Although we have a
tonnage secured for the Membership I
wouldn’t be surprised if we, along with
many processors, are sold out in the very
near future,” states Annie Buckingham,
Seed Buyer for the AtlasFram Group.
Further details from Annie Buckingham
at AtlasFram.
Staff profile - Nick Hindle
Nick Hindle joined AtlasFram on 20
January as Financial Controller, a
newly-created role which reflects the
increasing scale and complexity of the
Group’s operations.
Responsible for managing the 13 staff in
our Accounts Department, Nick was born
in Ipswich and has spent his life working
in the area. On leaving school at the age
of 16 he joined the accounts office at
Thompson & Morgan, a large
independently owned seeds, plants and
garden products company based in
Ipswich. After just a year with the
company he was promoted to Credit
Controller and went on to achieve his
Association of Accounting Technicians
(AAT) qualification.
Nick subsequently moved to Mason’s, a
leading supplier of paper and board, as
Credit Controller, and within a year had
been promoted to Assistant Accountant.
After successfully completing a number of
roles within the business, and completing
his CIMA professional qualification, he
was appointed Financial Controller, a role
in which he was responsible for creating
a financial centre for the £500 million
Group and the 40-strong accounts team.
Having taken on more of an analytical
and strategic financial role, Nick left when
the Group decided to move its senior
financial staff to Northampton.
In 2012, Nick joined Bolton Bros., a
recycling and waste management
business in Suffolk, where he developed
the small accounts team, but wanted a
larger, more challenging role. Nick is
enjoying the challenges of his new
position at AtlasFram, which operates in
a completely different sector and being a
Member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative
provides a completely different working
environment.
Married with two young children, Harvey,
4, and 2-year-old Kaiya, Nick lives in
Ipswich and when not working devotes
all his spare time to his family.
13
14
Supplier Profile - Grainseed
Delivering best seed performance
Providing innovative varieties spanning
maize, oilseed rape and gamecover
mixes that deliver outstanding
performance across a range of
conditions, is where Eye-based
Grainseed have made a real name for
themselves in recent years.
Members can now not only order the full
range of Grainseed varieties through
AtlasFram, they can also use the
company’s state of the art processing
facilities for a range of seed cleaning and
dressing services.
“For us it’s very much about focusing on
what UK growers need, what’s going to
perform reliably for them and then working
with specialist breeders to develop
precisely the varieties that will deliver this,”
explains Grainseed’s James Todd.
“But it’s not enough just to supply the
seed. We’ve worked hard to find out the
best way of getting the most out of it and
over the years have pioneered many
industry firsts, such as our ‘Bred for Britain’
initiative, the ‘Cob Ripeness’ index for
maize and the further development of low
biomass oilseed rape varieties with
enhanced seedling vigour for
establishment.
varieties such as Ardent and Dualto
constantly being introduced.
On the Oilseed Rape side, Grainseed’s
portfolio focuses on multigene resistance to
phoma stem canker and includes popular
varieties such as Es Astrid, Es Alienor, Es
Cubic and last year’s new introduction Es
Alegria.
“We select varieties with a robust
agronomic package, high vigour, multigene
disease resistance and excellent yields.
Alienor, Cubic and Alegria are extremely
early to mature allowing growers to start
combining early and get the rape cut before
the first wheats are ready,” James explains.
Grainseed seed specialist Rod Clarke, who
works directly with AtlasFram, says many
more Members now use the relationship
with Grainseed to order their seed.
“It’s increasing year on year and we’re
always happy to offer advice to AtlasFram
Members on the best options for their
farms. Whether you need grass seeds,
environmental mixtures, wild flowers or lawn
seed, we stock them all at Eye and can
normally deliver next day direct to
Members. We are also able to mix and
blend gamecover and arable silage as well
Rod Clarke, Seed Specialist
inspecting Es Alegri WOSR
as treat a wide variety of seeds with a
range of enhanced insecticides.”
Gamecover mixtures include the full
Horizon seeds range, with a wide selection
of straight varieties suitable for all uses.
Also increasingly popular are the Triumph
grass mixtures which are carefully
formulated every season with the best
varieties available.
“We are also able to clean and treat
farmers’ own seeds thanks to our extensive
facilities and years of experience. We can
collect your cereal or pulse seed, clean,
treat and deliver it back to you and
guarantee a rapid turn around at a busy
time of the year.”
To find out more contact:
Rod Clarke on 07768 348049.
“Grainseed are well known for their maize
portfolio and the ‘Bred for Britain’ initiative
ensures that their maize varieties are
extensively tested in UK conditions. The
company has over 50 trials sites across
the country to establish varietal robustness
and performance in all situations, with
maize varieties now tested for their
suitability for AD plants too. Within the
AtlasFram regions there are a wide variety
of growing conditions, so this level of
insight and technical understanding can
really help Members to get exactly the right
varieties for their farms,” James explains
Currently Grainseed’s most popular ‘Bred
for Britain’ maize varieties are Picker,
Ballade, Marco and Dominator, with new
Grainseed’s James Todd
15