Collaboration delivers benefits to beet growers, but could do more

15th September 2007

Research conducted by EFFP, on behalf of NFU Sugar, shows collaboration delivers benefits to beet growers but more could be done to improve efficiencies

Recent research carried out by EFFP on behalf of NFU Sugar shows that collaboration is common practice with some 69% of respondents indicate that they share some on-farm activities with other farmers and growers.

This major survey of sugar beet growers does, however, show that there is still many more opportunities as yet 'un-tapped'. This is not just about the number of farmers sharing operations with others, but also about the way that they manage the collaboration to really drive through efficiencies.

Of those farmers and growers that do share activities with others, the most popular areas for working together with others are input buying/membership of an input buying group, cultivation/drilling, harvesting and haulage. Key reasons for this are minimal perceived loss of independence through joining an input buying group, use of contractors in other areas and maintaining control over key tasks. Fertiliser spreading/spraying and loading are the least popular activities to share with other farmers due to high levels of equipment already on-farm and convenience.

Opportunities exist for more farmers to work with others, to increase range of operations included within the collaboration and to work together to ensure that operations are carried out in the most efficient way possible. Most of those farmers - just under a quarter - who took part in the survey, only share one business activity with other growers, while a further 26% share 2 or 3 activities.

While it is easy to say that farmers need to work with each other more, the survey findings indicate that farmers see some challenges in successfully achieving this. Some 68% of sugar beet growers indicate that having a clear exit strategy from any collaboration is the most significant barrier to collaboration.

Bearing these potential barriers in mind, it becomes clear that a key challenge farmers face is how to go about working with others: finding the right partners, building trust, identifying the "right" areas for collaboration, developing agreements and ensuring that collaborative activities add value rather than cost. This last factor is extremely important; the great majority of respondents saw reduced production costs as the key benefit of working together with other farmers, with 66% stating that this benefit is very important.

Richard Self from EFFP said "I am confident that the we can help farmers overcome the barriers, so that they can take advantage of the opportunities that production groups can offer".

Helen Grant, Associate Director of research at EFFP says, "The survey findings demonstrate that without specific benefits in terms of cost reduction, farmers and growers are likely to be wary of working together with others. Furthermore, there is a need to ensure that agreements are developed which minimise the potential for conflict and give farmers and growers the flexibility to exit groups with minimal inconvenience, if this should prove necessary".

The study sought to identify levels of collaboration within the sugar beet sector currently, the type of collaboration and the benefits of this type of business approach. Supported by EEDA and EMDA, the research will be brought together with a series of case studies showing successful collaboration between farmers and growers in the UK.

Commenting on the study, John Hoyles, Chairman of the NFU Sugar Board said, "We are very pleased with the response of our sugar beet growers to this survey. Going forward, NFU Sugar will work with growers to help them develop their business approaches to ensure a profitable future for beet growers in the UK".