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Good Turnout from Local Farmers at SAC Outlook Roadshows

Dumfries Outlook 2010 Roadshow (opens in new window)

The final SAC Outlook Roadshows of 2010 have taken place in Dumfries and Dingwall, with a good turnout at both events from key local farmers interested in hearing experts’ views on future prospects for the industry.

Farmer Robert Parker, guest speaker at the Dumfries event, told farmers that they should take the time to consider how they might be able to do things differently in order to improve efficiency. The key to the right approach, he said, is minimising risk and devising a system that best suits the farm. In Robert’s case, this involved changing his chosen cattle breed to a robust, long-lived and easy to manage herd which does not require expensive inputs and allows him make the best use of home-grown fodder.

In Dingwall, Jim McLaren, President of NFU Scotland laid out his vision for a sustainable future, the key requirements for which are profitability, proportionate regulation, the ‘appliance of science’, adaptation to and mitigating against climate change and an increase in diversification and renewable energy. Speaking of his belief that the government should be encouraging every farmer to develop small scale renewables, Jim highlighted the situation in Germany where the development of biogas production facilities on more than 5000 farms has created an opportunity to replace a nuclear power plant.

At both events, Douglas Bell from SAC's Rural Policy Centre gave his impressions of the forthcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and a review of the market situation. Douglas noted increased confidence in the sheep and beef sectors but stated that, "although returns have improved and look stable, rising production costs and current exchange rates could take the shine off the situation."

Douglas also warned that support payments remain critical and that the emphasis should be on continued technical and managerial improvements. He urged farmers to take time out to ensure they are working smarter not harder and emphasised the Whole Farm Review Scheme as an opportunity to achieve this.

The second SAC speaker in Dumfries was SAC's Senior Dairy Consultant Jimmy Goldie, who reported a mixed mood amongst dairy farmers. "Cash flow is a problem for some with banks not sympathetic to overdrawing", he said. "There has been a notable expansion in the size of herds but overall production levels are dropping. Skilled labour also continues to be a problem, leading to an increase in interest in robotic milking." Jimmy went on to urge farmers, particularly producers in the west, to make gains by using grass to its best advantage and paying close attention to fertility and calving patterns which, if poor, mean an overall reduction in profitability.

SAC’s Senior Rural Business Consultant Julian Bell spoke in Dingwall about grain, saying, “The question many farmers will be asking is, ‘Should I sell now or wait and see whether prices rise further?’ The problem is nobody knows where the grain price will be next week, next month or next year. So many factors can drive price particularly weather and currency and these can not be forecast.”

The most vital piece of information for farmers, advised Julian, is knowing their costs of production, which  can then enable them to consider forward selling on contract when they can see margin in doing so. “Right now grain buyers are concerned about future supply and this is helping farmers secure more favourable forward prices. There are no guarantees this will continue so it is down to each farmers to keep reviewing their grain marketing plans on an ongoing basis to help protect profitability in the years ahead,” he said.

With funding from Scottish Government through the "Success Through Knowledge" campaign, each Outlook event was located in a different part of Scotland – the first was in Oban - and reflected different farm types.

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