Loam Farm Update – Feb ’15

Andersons Loam Farm figures have been updated to reflect the latest costs and prices.  It shows that the 2015 harvest year could be financially tough for many combinable crop businesses.

To recap, Loam Farm is a notional 600 hectare (1,480 acre) combinable crop farm located in East Anglia.  It has a simple rotation of winter milling wheat, winter OSR, winter feed wheat and spring beans.  Of the cropped area 240 Ha are owned and 360 Ha rented on FBTs.  There is a working proprietor plus one full-time man and harvest casual.  All operations are carried out in-house.  The figures for the past two harvests are shown, and then a budget for harvest 2015.  The figures for 2014 are now final as all the grain has been sold.

The results for 2014 harvest have actually improved slightly since the figures were last shown in November.  This is due to better prices being available for the last of the grain to be sold as market rose before Christmas.  The 2015 budgeted profit has improved slightly on previous estimates for the same reason.  However, it can be seen that the farm is still forecast to make a loss from production this year.

As set out in November, a situation has also been modelled where Loam Farm took on an extra 200 hectares (500 acres) last autumn, at a rent of rent of £500 per hectare (£202 per acre).  The situation has not changed in this scenario – it can be seen that taking on the extra land still reduces business profit.