With a hefty crop of summer technical events in the calendar arable farmers have lots of opportunities to reflect, review and refine their business practice.  There’s lots of tyre-kicking, trial-walking, rep-talking opportunities. But the power of an article in print to push an idea forward can never be underestimated and JVFG – and its power to push up profitability are featuring prominently in the press again.

JVFG farmer guiding others in Farmers Guide 

Buckinghamshire farmer and JVFG Chairman Antony Pearce,with his story of how he has moved from traditional crop establishment regime, is profiled in a feature article in the Farmers Guide. It’s a tale of an issue, the inspiration to try to sort it and the satisfaction in getting the right result.

Wanting to reduce costs is on the wishlist on most farms but what may not be so frequently understood is by how much these costs should and could come down.  As Antony explains to Farmers Guide feature writer David Williams, “a benchmarking exercise through JVFG confirmed our costs were up to twice as high as they should have been”.

Benchmarking with JVFG gives a target to aim at

Using an Autocaster had already proved successful for establishing OSR straight on to stubble.  A first direct-drill had been bought for the farm to experiment in establishing cereals too. But another, bigger drill was hard to justify on the existing acreage. The formation of a new Joint Venture business with a neighbouring farmer, Nick Skipworth  with similar sized farm and similar machinery fleet was just what was needed to make the necessary machinery investment to realise the direct drilling ambition and reduce costs of establishment whilst still tackling the all-too-familiar problem of blackgrass. The new drill chosen was the Sky HD EasyDrill.

Coping with variation across a joint venture

Machinery combinations and use have to vary across a joint venture in response to field-to-field variation in soil character.

This is where the skill of the operator comes to the fore. The Landsman Farming Joint Venture  enjoys the professionalism and determination of operator Barry Davies. His attention to detail to achieve the best establishment for least cost – in time, fuel use and wear – is well described in the Farmers Guide article.

 Joint (up) thinking

“Time and fuel cost savings have been achieved with our direct-drilling regime” confirms Antony Pearce but adds that “minimal disturbance drilling needs to be a gradual process.’ The farmer members of JVFG get invaluable opportunity to compare and discuss with each other the steps in a process such as changing establishment methods.

This top drawer discussion at JVFG meetings is in a class of its own and it is great that more and more farmers are getting to hear about it in this issue of the Farmers Guide and in the talks and discussions taking place at arable technical events around the country this summer.