Farm Management Handbook 2019/20
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The Farm Management Handbook 2019/20 Editor Alastair Beattie SAC Consulting October 2019 This publication is co-funded by the Scottish Government and EU as part of the SRDP Farm Advisory Service Enquiries: Telephone: 0131 603 7525 Email: [email protected] Website: www.sruc.ac.uk/fmh Price: £28 plus postage and packaging © SAC Consulting 2019 ISSN 0308-5708 ISBN 978-0-9931063-8-5 ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE FARM MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK An electronic version is available free at www.fas.scot as part of the SRDP Farm Advisory Service. ORDERING A HARD COPY OF THE FARM MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK IS EASY If you would like to order a hard copy of the publication it can be obtained from SAC Consulting as detailed below: . Visit the SAC Consulting webpages and order online: www.sruc.ac.uk/fmh . Email: [email protected] . Telephone: 0131 603 7525 (answerphone out of office hours) . Contact your local SAC Consulting office (see pages 540-542) . Write to: Farm Management Handbook Sales, SAC Consulting, 2 Technopole Centre, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PJ (cheques payable to SAC Commercial Ltd) Foreword At the time of writing this foreword to the 40th edition of the Farm Management Handbook the future of agriculture within the UK, together with our trading relationships with those outside the UK, remains in the balance. After the UK’s proposed exit from the EU on 31st March 2019 was postponed, there has been growing speculation about what the final exit agreement will actually look like and how it will be implemented on the ground. Coupled with Brexit, the future of farm support in Scotland has yet to be clearly mapped out. Agriculture is like any other business in that speculation breeds uncertainty, and uncertainty makes it difficult for business managers to plan ahead and commit to making reinvestment decisions. With the second ‘Brexit Day’ deadline looming on 31st October 2019, farm business planning is now more crucial than ever before. To aid this challenging task the 40th edition of the Farm Management Handbook, produced with the support of the Scottish Government’s SRDP Farm Advisory Service (FAS) provides a comprehensive and up- to-date source of information for farmers, managers, bankers, accountants, students and all consultants involved in the assessment and planning of farm and rural businesses. Planning allows returns to be assessed and enterprise mixes adjusted to strike the right balance between risk and return. For this reason the crop and livestock financial data remain central to the Farm Management Handbook. In addition to reviewing all financial margin data, this year we have added more information to the diversification section and the crofts and small farms section. The SAC Farm Management Handbook is a budgeting book. Provision of physical information upon which the financial measures are based enables the user to adjust data, where necessary, to account for differences occurring locally or on individual farms. The Handbook is an annual publication, more regular market and input cost data are provided at www.fas.scot under Farm Business and Agribusiness News topics. Enterprise budgets are expressed to gross margin level. The fixed costs of an individual business should also be taken into account when preparing forward budgets as they can have a significant impact on the profitability and/or success of a business. The Handbook could not be produced without the help of colleagues and friends throughout the industry. This help, and indeed all comments and suggestions, are very much appreciated. Alastair Beattie October 2019 Acknowledgements SAC Consulting Rural Business Unit acknowledges with thanks the considerable assistance received from many people outside SRUC and from specialist colleagues within the organisation. In particular, the following people have made major contributions to this edition of the Handbook: Kerry Allison, Rebecca Audsley, Adele Baron, Julian Bell, Craig Bothwell, Jim Campbell, Niall Campbell, Aileen Carr, George Chalmers, Gavin Elrick, Lisa Fitzsimmons, Janis Forrest, Poppy Frater, Gillian Inman, Innes Jessiman, Calum Johnston, Ewan Johnston, Lorna MacPherson, Siobhan MacDonald, Neil Melville, Peter Lindsay, Robert Logan, Chloe McCulloch, Robin Mair, Dr Foteini Manolaraki, Colin Mason, Martin Richards, Fiona Salter, Anna Sellars, Janette Sutherland, Alistair Trail, Kirsten Williams, Malcolm Young and Mary Young. SAC Consulting would like to thank the following organisations for their contribution to the Handbook: The Scottish Government Chiene + Tait CA, Edinburgh The Scottish Machinery Rings SAC Consulting would also like to thank the individuals and organisations that help update the Handbook but do not wish to be formally acknowledged. Your contributions are very much appreciated. Contents Enterprise Budgeting .............................................................................. 1 Crop Inputs ............................................................................................... 3 Introduction ............................................................................................. 4 Fertiliser .................................................................................................. 4 Lime ........................................................................................................ 4 Slurry and Manure .................................................................................. 4 Nutrient Planning .................................................................................... 6 Residual Values of Fertilisers, Manures and Lime ................................. 8 Pesticide Use ....................................................................................... 12 Arable ...................................................................................................... 15 Introduction ........................................................................................... 16 Wheat - Winter ..................................................................................... 20 Wheat - Spring ..................................................................................... 22 Barley - Winter ...................................................................................... 24 Barley - Spring ...................................................................................... 26 Oats - Winter ........................................................................................ 28 Oats - Spring ........................................................................................ 30 Triticale ................................................................................................. 32 Oilseed Rape - Winter .......................................................................... 34 Oilseed Rape - Spring .......................................................................... 36 Spring Field Beans ............................................................................... 38 Spring Peas .......................................................................................... 40 Cauliflower and Broccoli ....................................................................... 42 Timothy - Hay, Greencut ...................................................................... 44 Stubble to Stubble Arable Operations .................................................. 46 Equivalent Grain Weights at Varying Moisture Contents ..................... 47 Futures and Options Markets ............................................................... 47 Potatoes .................................................................................................. 49 Introduction ........................................................................................... 50 Potatoes - Loose New (Covered and Open) ........................................ 54 Potatoes - Baby New ............................................................................ 56 Potatoes - Early Set Skin Pre-Pack Bakers (Covered and Open) ....... 58 Potatoes - Pre-Pack Salads ................................................................. 60 Potatoes - Maincrop Ware (Pre-Pack Bakers) ..................................... 62 Potatoes - Maincrop Ware (Pre-Pack Premium Varieties) ................... 64 Potatoes - Maincrop Ware (Processing - Chips) .................................. 66 Potatoes - Maincrop Ware (Processing - Crisps) ................................. 68 Potatoes - Seed (Low and High Number Varieties) ............................. 70 Potatoes - Dual Purpose (Seed and Ware) .......................................... 72 Grassland ............................................................................................... 75 Introduction ........................................................................................... 76 Sward Improvement ............................................................................. 78 Preserved Grass Production Costs ...................................................... 79 Grassland - Grazing ............................................................................. 80 Grassland - Silage and Aftermath Grazing .......................................... 82 Grassland - Hay and Aftermath Grazing .............................................. 84 Forage Crops ......................................................................................... 87 Introduction........................................................................................... 88 Brassica and Root Crop Technical Data .............................................