FCG Farm Exercise – Charles Holt (Lincoln) 

Last month FCG members gathered on a farm for a group training exercise.  We regularly hold these meetings, both as a means of training ourselves, and to help a farmer/client with a conundrum of their own.  In this case, our task was to examine the options open to a tenanted arable and livestock farm as to how to replace the income that will be lost from the removal of BPS over the next four years or so.  It was not an easy task.

We decided that the solution involved a mix of initiatives.  No one idea would solve it all.  Clearly, being a tenant reduces their options, and adds an extra layer of complexity to any possible solution.  They have already embraced regenerative agriculture, by mainly ditching the plough, which has saved costs and seen no crop yield reduction.

They have made better use of some buildings by providing a storage facility (with their landlord’s agreement).  They have entered into a carbon sequestration deal, and they have an off-farm diversification enterprise.  But they cannot yet see what ELMS consists of – like everyone else.  Despite all they have done, we did find some other ideas for them to follow up, but it isn’t easy to find that silver bullet….  Have you found yours, yet?  Increasingly, that silver bullet may well have nothing to do with ‘traditional farming’.

Contact Charles at charlesholt@fcgagric.com or your local FCG Office, for a fresh perspective on your business to help guide you through the uncertainties and identify the opportunities open to your business in the next five years.