Ian Potter Associates s4

IAN POTTER ASSOCIATES 2nd July 2010 Specialist Agricultural Quota & Entitlement Brokers Telephone 01335 324594 Fax 01335 324584 Website www.ipaquotas.co.uk Email [email protected] Issue No. 581 Today Last Week Change 4 Weeks Ago 1 Year ago

Clean 0.25ppl 0.25ppl - 0.30ppl 0.25ppl AMPE 30.70ppl 30.50ppl +0.20 30.50ppl 19.10ppl MCVE 30.24ppl 30.40ppl -0.16 30.40ppl 24.87ppl Producers in 11,256 11,292 11,318 11,743 E & W £ : $ 1.49 1.49 - 1.46 1.64 £ : € 1.21 1.21 - 1.20 1.16 Crude Oil $76 $76 $73 $68 Wheat £110 £106 £115 Soya meal £281 £262 £308 Belton Cheese – Increase milk price 0.6ppl from 1st July. This is their 3rd increase this year following 0.5ppl in January and 0.3ppl in May.

Dairy Crest – Davidstow price increased by 0.75ppl, but, significantly, no price movement on liquid – which no doubt reflects the price Armageddon going on in the middle ground market, and which DC is heavily exposed to. DC’s cheese price now exceeds its liquid price, with other major cheese players bearing down on or matching liquid prices.

Wiseman – letters are due out on farms this weekend. Talk at the mid week Dairy UK dinner was that 0.5p would be a bridge too far because of DC’s lack of a liquid price movement, with a rise 0.3 to 0.4 more likely. If the later price holds true it means Wiseman would be paying 24.72, Arla 24.5 and DC well adrift at 23.84 ppl.

Defra farm gate price – for May 23.63ppl up 3ppl on the same month last year and 0.06ppl on the previous month.

Gregory’s gone Visit the News section of Holstein UK's website and the top story is "2010 Holstein Celebration". It's about herd visits later in the year. But the real Holstein celebration of the year (decade?) is that the current Chief Executive, Greg Ward, has gone - to cheers around the office. Officially he has departed for "personal reasons" but the curt nature of Holstein UK's announcement suggests otherwise. All it said was "We would like to thank Gregory Ward for his service to the Company and wish him well for the future." The term "we" in this case" is believed to only refer to about one or two people within Holstein UK and trawling the membership to identify them will take some time. His responsibilities have been assigned to the Company Secretary, Greg Watson.

DairyCo loses data DairyCo has apologised to 13,000 GB farmers after a laptop containing names and address of levy payers was stolen from a car parked overnight at a hotel on the 9th June.The snatch and grab was one of a number at the same hotel on the same evening and it is understood it was a laptop which belonged to one of Dairy Co’s extension staff who at best will now be facing disciplinary. Fortunately, however, there was no personal or financial data which DairyCo believed could be used to defraud farmers and the data was not up to date. The information in the file consisted of names, addresses, phone numbers, volume of quota held, and TRN numbers. The information is of limited use, interest or value to any one other than perhaps a National Feed Company and is unlikely to be utilised. All of the Dairy Co data is now held on a secure head office computer.

Milk link to reduce production bonus from April 2011 Milk Link has advised members the current 0.8ppl production bonus will be reduced to 0.5ppl from April 2011. The bonus which was first introduced in October 2007 of 0.3ppl increased to 0.8ppl in July 2008 and is paid providing the members monthly production is at least equal to the same month the previous year.

Paice puts cat among Dairy UK pigeons on contracts Speaking at this week’s gathering of the industry’s great and the good, at the Dairy UK dinner, Farm Minister Jim Paice said he was in favour of the High Level Group moving forward on the issue of better producer milk contracts. This will be music to the ears of the NFU but as welcome as a Uruguayan referee at Wembley to Dairy UK, who see few reasons for marked changes in contracts.

All views expressed in this bulletin are those of Ian Potter Associates and a shed load of dairy farmers. It is necessarily short and cannot deal with the various issues that arise in any detail. As a result it must not be relied on as giving sufficient advice in any specific case. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the content but neither Ian Potter Associates nor Ian Potter personally can accept liability for any errors or omissions. Professional advice must always be taken before any decision is reached High Court judges to decide on Welsh badger cull Following a one –day appeal in Cardiff on Wednesday the decision on whether to action a badger cull in Wales is to lie with 3 High Court judges. Their ruling is expected on 12th July.

BBC2 Wednesday 7th July-The Private Life of a Cow 8pm-9pm The programme will be presented by Farmer and potential farming ambassador Jimmy Doherty. Should be worth watching

Potter back at his desk next week Potter and Son will be back from South Africa on Monday from a World Cup which has seen England fans have a fantastic time in the Rainbow Country in yet another trip where the football was a waste of time. Normal hard hitting reviews of the good bad and the ugly in the dairy industry will resume next week when our roving traveller is harnessed back at his desk.