Transition webinar: How to control the controllables

Farmers and growers need to focus on controllable challenges to improve their businesses’ resilience, according to a recent Transition webinar.

For farms, challenges come from all directions and in greater number than many other industry sectors.

See also: How growers can build resilience on arable farms

For example, the weather and, for many farms as price takers, market volatility are beyond the control of managers.

While there are still outside influences on some of the controllables, it is possible to take action.

Factors including what areas of the farm to sow, rotations, fertiliser, grass and crop varieties, grazing patterns and feed types can all be controlled.

It is, therefore, worth spending less time on the things that are beyond the scope of management and devoting greater energy to business factors that can be controlled.

Starting point

Robert Sullivan says: “The starting point is ideally a review, and we recommend this should be through a whole farm budget and business cashflow.” Tom Mason agrees.

“You need to understand what you have got and assess the health of the business and its revenue streams,” he says.

“Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses is a good way to pin down where the business stands.

“From there, begin to factor in your appetite for risk with a view to investment and new ventures”.

Dan Stevenson recommends that in parallel with those tips is to develop a strategy. “Set targets and milestones to get you to the point where you want to be.

“That means business aspirations, meeting market demands, environmental targets and personal aims including quality of life and plans for the wider family,” he advised.

Data collection

Absolutely key to this is reliable, good-quality data, which will underpin the decision-making process.

Baselining the farm is a must.

Soil analysis and carbon footprinting will yield solid information to support management decisions and a foundation for future funding, whether private or government.

Other data sources can be as simple as regular livestock weighing, lambs per ewe, or recording yields, he said. More detailed data will point to which areas of the farm are worth investing in.

On arable units, recording yields across the growing area will show which do not perform, and when set against input costs, will show whether agricultural activities are yielding any profit.

Refining and testing

Results should then be viewed against the core values. For example, if a core value is that you want to produce food rather than diversify, use the data to further those aims, says Tom.

Once those plans have been set out, it is important to stress test them by looking at how the business would perform when faced with a crisis such as extreme weather or disease outbreaks.

Data limitations

But the panel warns there are limitations on data. Some data streams are complex and can be misunderstood.

Other data can be an anomaly or one-off, which might be misleading and suggest the wrong course of action. It is important to understand the data, so build it up in organised streams.

It is better to have fewer streams that you can act on than to get swamped and leave information sitting on the office computer or a USB stick gathering dust, says Robert.

Prioritise the areas of greatest significance and tackle one area at a time, he says.

Solutions

Soil analysis will show the nutrient profile and this information can be used to inform N, P and K applications.

Analysis of inputs such as slurry or manure will then allow control of applications and levels of bought-in fertiliser required.

Likewise, forage and feed analysis will indicate what additional nutrition is required to boost performance.

Tailoring inputs to achieve an optimum will help to cut costs significantly.

Look carefully at machinery equipment needs and costs of ownership versus hire or contracting, Robert advises.

This will also help to establish the value of a piece of equipment and its contribution to the health of the business compared with something cheaper or employing contractors

Then look at what areas don’t perform can then look at a range of things that you could do.

This could suggest areas that might be put to better use, such as Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI) options, a diversification, or private funding streams such as biodiversity net gain (BNG) units.

Generally, areas from 10ha to 80ha are considered suitable and the ideal sites were areas where food production was uneconomic.

But with BNG agreements lasting 30 years, decisions must be made carefully.

A long-term agreement may offer control now, but could end up controlling what you or your children will do in the future, says Dan.

Watch the full video of the webinar.