Farmer Focus: Retiring the trusty Fendt 716 to Cyprus

It is the time of the year when we sit down with our consultant and review our performance and budget for the year ahead.

This season has been good, with decent yields, lower fertiliser costs and higher grain prices.

However, the outlook for the future is rather murkier, with much increased fertiliser prices and a six-figure hole in the Basic Payment Scheme looming.

See also: Growers cut nitrogen and maintain yields using biostimulant

About the author

Andrew Barr

Arable Farmer Focus writer

Andy Barr farms 700ha in a family partnership in Kent. Combinable crops amount to about 400ha and include milling wheat and malting barley in an increasingly varied rotation. He also grazes 800 Romney ewes and 40 Sussex cattle and the farm uses conservation agriculture methods.

Read more articles by Andrew Barr

Potential solutions we have implemented this year include an increased Countryside Stewardship area.

After losing some rented land to tree planting, we are teaming up with a couple of nearby farmers to try and keep costs to a minimum in our direct-drilling and (slightly) lower input system.

Weather-wise, we had more issues with dryness than wetness, which has probably been easier than the other way around, but I am happy to report it has gone very well.

© Andy Barr

Some things take a little while to work out, but we are now waving goodbye to our trusty Fendt 716.

At nearly 10 years old and having averaged more than 1,000 hours a year, it certainly deserves a retirement in the sun and is destined for export to Cyprus.

It may not get much rest, but it drives just the same as the day it turned up and has also been great on fuel, justifying the premium purchase price I pondered over back in 2013.

Another tactic in the survival armoury is, of course, diversification and we started in 2000 when we sold our dairy herd.

It would be lovely to farm in a secluded country area, but we must play to our strengths, and being on a main road in the South East has pros as well as cons.

My consultant has a fantastic array of ideas – all of which would make us money – but we have always had to balance profit with the happiness of family living on the farm and occasionally the public can be even more awkward than sheep.