The Andersons Centre are providing FREE farm business consultancy advice under the DEFRA funded FFRF programme.
The programme is open to ALL farming businesses in England with an SBI number.
You will receive THREE DAYS worth of FREE consultancy input.
You will:
• Receive a face-to-face meeting with a specialist consultant
• A detailed report
• A follow up meeting
• Access to online training courses
Areas we cover under the programme are:
• In-depth Business Review and help with future business planning
• Joint Ventures
• Debt Re-Structuring
• Feasibility Studies
• Analysis of Capital Investment and Future Funding
• Forward Budgeting and Cashflow Management
• Diversification
• Tenancy Help
• Anything else farm business related
In-depth Business Review
Any business requires a sound strategy with defined objectives. Not sure where your business is heading or how it is performing? Our in-depth review will analyse your business, compare it to others, challenge what you are doing, and provide you with independent and financially sound advice for you to consider.
Joint Ventures
Contract Farming Agreements are a structured way for land occupiers to collaborate with contract farmers. We can advise on how contract farming works – physically and financially, on the structure of the agreement and on the roles and responsibilities of each party. We can prepare budgets to assess the financial returns for an agreement for each party.
Debt Re-Structuring
We work alongside banks and finance providers to agricultural businesses on a fully independent basis. We are well placed to assist you with advice regarding your finance and debt requirements to find a solution which works best for you.
Is your debt structured correctly? Do you have the correct balance of long term and short term borrowing? Is your borrowing affordable? Do you have enough working capital? We can provide detailed forward budget & cashflow projections should you require a restructure to your business finances.
Feasibility Studies
Do you have a new enterprise you wish to try? Or wish to change your system and want to see how it will impact your business financially? We can carry out detailed feasibility studies on your business by comparing what you are doing now with what you want to change.
Analysis of Capital Investment and Future Funding
Are you planning a new capital project such as pursuing a new enterprise, buying a farm, beginning a new tenancy, buildings or improving infrastructure, expanding an existing enterprise, or diversifying? Analysis of the capital investment is critical – planning the costs, assessing the returns, cash flowing and funding the project correctly, integration of the project within your existing business are key to ensure you have all the right information available to you before you make the important decisions.
Forward Budgeting and Cashflow Management
A budget and cash flow forecast is a powerful tool for managing a farm business. Just by producing a budget it makes you consider the future direction of your business and importantly whether the result meets your annual capital needs. By periodically monitoring against budget you are better able to plan your future direction.
Diversification
Diversification is becoming important for many businesses. Whether to allow other family members to join the business, better utilise resources, or for entrepreneurial individuals looking for opportunities to add value, we have a range of knowledge and experience from working with different diversified farming businesses on a variety of projects.
A successful diversification project must be based upon sound business principles. We can assist with assessing the market-place for your chosen activity, evaluating the viability of investments, considering government policy and assessing routes to market. The overall business case is the important key to success, as well as a fit with current farm activities, people and resources.
Tenancy Help
We can assist with rent reviews, FBT negotiation, rent tenders for business expansion and exit strategies for landlords and tenants.
Sign Up to the Programme
The FFRF (Future Farming Resilience Fund) is being provided by The Andersons Centre in partnership with Ricardo. The programme which is grant funded by DEFRA runs from now until March 2025.
You can sign up to the FFRF programme through the Ricardo Website – https://ffrf.ricardo.com/ and click Register Here.
