Farmer Focus: Machinery running costs are only going one way
Richard Harris © Emily Fleur With all field work now long complete, the sprayer and drill are back in the shed and in need of some TLC, much like a lot of our older machinery.
Being at a small scale we can’t justify the new shiny machines so it does mean there are plenty of oil leaks, metal work fatigue and general care required on nearly everything in most years.
This winter will be no different, with various ram seals and a sprayer oil pump leaking at the top of the list.
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As we have arguably left it too long to upgrade to anything resembling new, the financial gap would be too much on our kit.
So it’s likely to be slow and steady breakdowns for the foreseeable. How much does it really cost to keep a farm’s machinery going, along with the depreciation and inflation? This is often a hidden cost in farming.
The gap just seems to get larger year-on-year, with no increase in profit margins to pay for it. I’m not sure who’s going to be able to afford or justify the kit of tomorrow, but it’s certainly not us.
I am a half-glass-full kind of farmer, but it feels like we have a Parliament in the doldrums to ride out before, hopefully, some light at the end of the tunnel.
Nearly all of today’s world stories are seemingly depressing the grain price and increasing all others no matter what the headline is.Â
Unfortunately, it seems it’s only a very small percentage of people in the world want food to be fairly priced, reflecting the effort and skill level it involves to produce.
With most politicians wanting cheap food on the shelves to help reduce the financial burden on the consumer, who is being taken for a tax ride on nearly everything else in day-to-day life, food seems like the easy one to try and keep cheap.
