Berry Beet Factory Group
Starting from scratch this new group hopes to make significant reductions in production costs and improve efficiency.
In March 2007 some seven beet growers in the Bury area lead by Ken Rush and James Black, got round a kitchen table with their consultant Jamie Gwatkin to figure out how they could continue to operate profitable sugar beet enterprises under the new pricing regime.
Left to right: Robert Baker, James Black, Ken Rush and Jamie Gwatkin
'The compensation package currently being delivered via the Single Farm Payment Scheme gives growers a chance to get their house in order so that they can cope with the world market environment and this opportunity must not be wasted'. Jamie Gwatkin, Jamie Gwatkin Consultancy
In total this potential group produced over 100,000 tonnes of beet across a mix of heavy and light land.
They were currently producing yields at the top end of the spectrum using the best agronomic advice and whilst they all continue to strive for technical improvements they did not believe that further significant gains would be made in yield.
They were also members of major buying groups so there would be little scope in reducing input costs. Therefore they have chosen to focus on the major operations of lifting and haulage.
Starting with a blank sheet of paper they considered how they would manage their lifting operation as if they were one business. The range of heavy and light soil types would enable them to lengthen the lifting season and make more efficient use of the harvesters, providing they can lift all heavy land in a particular area by mid December, lifting lighter land later, possibly carrying on through to mid February. The upside would be that the later lifting would allow increase in yield, on the other hand the risks for the late crop is frost damage.
The group has set themselves a target to reduce lifting costs by at least 10%, but believe many of the benefits will be nonfinancial and involve organizational efficiency by working as one unit. The group expects to commence in 2008 and EFFP will follow their progress to see how they resolve their challenges.
The challenge for this new group is to devise a system that would be fair to all members in the balancing of early and late lifting. In doing so they have to resolve a number of questions:
- What is the value of an early entry into wheat as opposed to the higher yields of beet from later lifting but with greater soil damage and implications for the subsequent crop?
- How can the group protect themselves against frost damage for later lifted crops? Can an insurance scheme be devised between the members of the group or utilizing third party insurers?
- How can they smooth the cash flow for the group members that previously had some early income from September and October beet deliveries?
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