Nevile Dean Blankney Harvesting Group

The Nevile Estate and Patrick Dean Ltd have been collaborating for 30 years across two businesses and have huge experience in making collaboration work.

 One area of co-operation has been in sugar beet harvesting and over this period they have jointly owned eight harvesters on a very simple 50:50 ownership agreement. At the end of last season their existing harvester needed replacing.

They were of the view that to remain viable in sugar beet production they had to have a larger core area and achieve further efficiencies in operation. Blankney Estates, also a very sizeable beet grower, was going through the same thought process.

By coming together they were able to create a very substantial enterprise of 2,500 acres in a tight geographical area of 15 mile radius, producing between them around 55,000 tonnes of beet.

This was instrumental in enabling them to replace their existing harvesters with a new six row Holmer Terra Dos machine, an investment of £270,000. Currently working a single shift and clearing up to 40 acres per day, this will increase to a double shift later in the season.

Haulage is also carried out collaboratively between Blankney Estate and Patrick Dean Ltd, between them running four lorries. The agreement is very simple. They all contribute resources in labour and equipment and the ownership of the machine is split between the three parties (Photo, left to right David Knott, Philip Wynn, Andrew Haydon, Alastair Priestly and Nick Marshal).

The running costs are calculated at the end of the campaign period and divided according to contracted tonnage. There has been no need for a separate company and as they say 'it is all about trust and the chemistry between the people involved is the critical ingredient'. Their greatest concern is further cuts in beet quota and the risk of closure of the Newark factory but for the time being they believe the risk is worth taking.

Key learning points:

  • They do not claim their costs are any lower than a contractor would charge however it gives them more control over the lifting and haulage process and particularly speed of haulage which can significantly reduce loss in the beet clamp.
  • They are also able to lift right through to the end of the campaign by having a range of heavy and light land across the three businesses. The risk of damage from late frosts is also minimised by being able to haul rapidly from field to the factory in Newark.

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