News and insight

Find out what our Regional Agriculture Managers think about the key issues facing the farming community today.

The arable challenge

• Philip Dolbear, Regional Agriculture Manager, South & South West, believes it's still possible to make a margin in one of the most volatile enterprise sectors without taking a gamble.
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  Travelling around the South-West as I do, it's very pleasing to see businesses that are evolving and making real progress. Price volatility is something relatively new to the sector and here to stay, but there are some tremendous examples among the 'early adopters'.

  Making a margin in one of the most volatile enterprise sectors continues to be a challenge to everyone, but I don't think it needs to be a gamble. Listening to the markets, spending time working out the cost base - including drawings, tax, and bank repayments across many cases - helps to guide individual customers and keeps us all informed.

  Assessing the sale price, it must reach at least break even, and then crucially leave some 'room for error'. This can be an 18-month process for a crop and tie up a lot of cash, so a good understanding of working capital requirement is an essential part of the process.

  As I say, I'm really pleased to see the genuine progress that several businesses have made in recent times, enabling them to progress and achieve their individual and separate ambitions.

  Contact Philip Dolbear , Regional Agriculture Manager, South & South West.

Succession planning: vital for every business

• Ian Girdley, Regional Agriculture Manager, Central & East, makes the case for why now is the time to prepare your business for change. Read more...

  

  Succession planning is preparing business for changes now to minimise challenges later. It ensures the long-term future of the farm and continuation of the business for the next generation in "family run" farming enterprises.

  In essence, succession planning is a process for identifying the family or team members with the potential to fill key business leadership positions, and then developing them so they can take up those roles in your company or partnership. Locally it's something that I have thoroughly enjoyed helping many businesses with - even in the relatively short time that I have been in this role. I thoroughly enjoy the involvement that this gives me.

  The loss of a partner or shareholding director can have a major impact on any business - both personal and financial. While they will never remove the pain of the loss, the changes you put in place now to address your succession planning strategy will reduce the challenges you will face in the future.

  This is something I've seen many businesses discuss in the Eastern Counties. Ensure you plan for all of your tomorrows, today.

  Contact Ian Girdley , Regional Agriculture Manager, Central & East.

Facing up to the future

• Andy Hipwell, Regional Agriculture Manager, Midlands, argues why renewable technologies must play an increasingly important part in farm energy production. Read more...

  

  Many of our farming customers in the Midlands - a region which traditionally enjoys a mixed farming structure - are well positioned to capture new opportunities in 'renewables'. I am relatively new to the team but I am deeply impressed with the enthusiasm, take-up and interest in this new income stream. It gives a strong farming economy a new and added opportunity to capture.

  Growing populations, falling energy sources and food shortages will create the "perfect storm" by 2030, the government's chief scientist Professor John Beddington has said.

  It is no surprise therefore that majority of farmers intend to install renewable energy technologies on their farms. And as Agriculture remains HSBC's most preferred sector, renewables has an increasing important part to play. We have a proven track record in financing renewable energy farm diversifications across all of our preferred technologies: solar, wind, anaerobic digestion and biomass.

  Core to the HSBC's renewables proposition is the development of a network of Climate Business Champion's who understand renewables and serve as Sector Specialists.

  Contact Andy Hipwell , Regional Agriculture Manager, Midlands

Banking on the right solution

• Robbie Jones, Regional Agriculture Manager, Yorkshire and North East, explains the secret to finding the right bank for you and your business. Read more...

  

  The North East team has been building on its considerable depth of experience with new customers, as well as those who have banked with us for a couple of generations alike.

  Our specialist Agriculture Managers only look after farming businesses. We take great pride in our experience across all sectors of the industry - from intensive and extensive cropping to all types of livestock production, as well as protected crops and value added processes. We fully understand that each sector has a different cash cycle and that every business is different - so we take time to understand your unique farming business.

  It is this specialist knowledge and understanding, along with our genuine interest in your business, which ensures that we can tailor a banking solution to your very specific needs. Our farming customers know that we will provide the best - and most cost effective solution - to allow them to concentrate on managing their businesses even better.

  Contact Robbie Jones , Regional Agriculture Manager, Yorkshire & North East.

The hidden cost of raising milk prices

• Gordon Whitford, Regional Agriculture Manager, North West, shows that higher prices isn't the same as better prices, and that understanding the cost of production is the key to better profits. Read more...

  

  Our business here in the North West has always had a strong backbone based on milk production. In my 20 years in the team, I have noticed that the most crucial thing which farmers can influence is their cost base - irrespective of how often we hear of industry demands for a rising milk price.

  There is no doubt milk price is an important factor. Every dairy farmer should strive to obtain the best milk contract available and one that suits their farming practice. But the price paid for milk is influenced by factors that a farmer cannot dictate.

  Separately to that, in many cases, the cost of production of a litre of milk is the aspect of the equation that a dairy farmer does have a large element of control. The range between the best and the worst has always been larger than one would expect, and not always related to size of enterprise.

  Currently, I see a variation in the cost of production ranging between 17-34 pence per litre. While the milk price may only range between 4-5 pence per litre. It is therefore those dairy farmers with a full understanding of their cost of production that determine the top performers within the sector rather than solely relying on best milk price available.

  At HSBC, we believe we have the managers best suited to discuss these issues.

  Contact Gordon Whitford Regional Agriculture Manager, North West.