Manage your risk to make money from 80/t wheat

By FWi staff

FARMERS were urged yesterday to have a long hard look at their businesses if they cant make money selling wheat at £80/t.

Gary Hutchings of Dalgety Agriculture said farmers could do a number of things to maximise profits despite the strong Pound which is pressuring returns.

“There are those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wondered what the hell happened,” said Mr Hutchings, Dalgetys crop marketing development manager.

“UK farmers must be in the first category in the grain market.”

Speaking at a conference organised by Dalgety Arable and the Home-Grown Cereals Authority, Mr Hutchings said growers should employ a system of risk management to increase revenue.

Risk management strategies can take various forms, including minimum price contracts, which guarantee a base price while allowing growers to reap the benefit of price increase.

Other strategies take the form of managed funds where traders guarantee the grower a base price and hand back a share of any profit made on the futures market.

Grain pools and grain groups including buy-back contracts can also enable growers to add value to the base price, said Mr Hutchings.