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Agriculture and horticulture is not very forward thinking......
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....well try telling that to the commercial growers at the National Fruit Show yesterday. If ever there was an example of how consumer focused, scientific and technologically advanced and forward thinking our industry is it was this event.
I have said before that we need to show how exciting our industry is...at the fruit show you could talk about crop protection (including matters such as beneficial insects), GPS systems for irrigation, crop nutrition and management, automated-technology for picking and packing, storage science and high level marketing strategies.
Last year the industry increased our share of total apple sales in the supermarkets regaining market share from imports and new varieties are set to further advance this in 2010 and beyond.
WOW! Well done to the organisers and how about some good news stories about this sector?
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Organic Debate – what’s the issue?
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This December Hadlow College will be hosting the first Fresh Start Christmas debate. The title is Organic Farming Myth or Legend. So what are the main issues we need to discuss?
Food security, environment, disease management, conservation, fuel use, animal welfare....?
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Fixing exchange rate makes sense
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The farmers who a few months ago fixed their exchange rate for their SFP at £0.90:€1.00 have done a good little bit of business. The last 2 years have shown there is real value in fixing when the rate looks rather than waiting for the 30th September lottery.
But what is a good rate and should farmers become currency traders?
What is a good rate? Well....is it right for you is a start. Most business will produce an annual budget and know what they ‘need’ their SFP to be. Also what is the outlook in the economy? The last two years there has been huge uncertainty in the economy...so was the upside of fixing more luck than judgement?
I think the answer is yes and no. People who did lock in felt that £0.90 was good enough for them. Once you lock in you need to stop watching the rate.
My tips would be know what you want, see what the rate looks like, take advice and then make a decision. Farmers would not start a new enterprise without some research and talking to a lot of people. Treat fixing rates in the same way...do your research.
Looking ahead to next year...who will think about fixing?