In a political environment where farming is battling increasing headwinds, Suffolk arable farmer and inventor of the Claydon Opti-Till® direct seeding system, Jeff Claydon is focusing on minimising risk and maximising income.
November 2024
I have always been an optimistic farmer, but right now I am struggling. I’m not normally one to get political, but like many people I feel massively let down by our politicians, who seem intent on destroying farming and the rural infrastructure. Everyone from local shops to agricultural machinery dealers form an essential part of a thriving, healthy countryside, but their livelihoods are at risk from a lack of cash and investment. Many businesses have been lost in recent years and the trend seems likely to continue if those in Westminster carry on along their current path.
We live in a high-risk world, one in which many promises are being broken. Everything is far more complex than it needs to be, and the only certainty is more uncertainty. You only need to look around to see that almost everything has stalled, and not just in the UK. Traditional industries throughout the western world are being destroyed by governments and their punitive, nonsensical legislation which is stifling innovation and investment. Farming is no different, so one must question why this is happening and what is driving politicians to follow this ruinous path. How much more of this can industry take before the last straw breaks the camel’s back?
In the twelve months leading up to the election the Labour Party gave repeated reassurances that they would not tamper with Inheritance Tax Relief (IHT), Agricultural Property Relief (APR) or Business Property Relief (BPR). The Chancellor’s recent actions broke all pre-election promises and this brutal attack on farming and other businesses should concern everyone in the country, particularly given the fragile state of global relations at a time when the UK relies heavily on imported food.
The measures announced in the Autumn Budget risk confining family farms to the history books within a generation. Huge numbers of farming operations will have over £1 million invested in machinery and stock alone, all working capital, while significant increases in the minimum wage and employers’ National Insurance contributions will further reduce profitability. This will dampen any desire for the next generation to join the business, seriously questioning the incentive to invest for the future. On the face of it there seems to be a lot of pressure being put on employers with legislation and demands, and now with the attack of APR/BPR, it seriously brings into question this Government’s commitment to mental health and wellbeing.
As if this wasn’t enough, the changes to the Basic Payments Scheme which Defra announced concurrent with the Autumn Budget will see direct financial support for farming end far more quickly than any of us had expected or planned for, any small concessions being a drop in the ocean in comparison. In a world where many people feel that they are owed a living and are reluctant to get their hands dirty one questions who will take the farming and manufacturing sectors forward in the future.
The CLA and NFU are doing sterling work to highlight the importance of farming and rural businesses, but it is painfully apparent that politicians simply do not understand, or want to understand, this industry, economics, or what it takes to operate a successful business. Developing and growing a successful agricultural machinery business has been the Claydon family’s major diversification from farming over more than four decades, so we take every opportunity to get the message across to local, regional and national government.
Over the last four decades Claydon has grown from nothing to a multi-million-pound company, reinvesting all profits left after taxation and now employing over 80 people. This year alone, based around our range of Opti-Till® crop establishment machinery, we have won a raft of awards for contributing to farming and manufacturing. These include the 2024 Regional Global Britain Business of the Year, part of the prestigious British Chamber Business Awards, the Investing in West Suffolk Award sponsored by West Suffolk County Council, and Suffolk Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group’s Peewit Award for Excellence in Ecological Farming.
Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMEs) have traditional relied on being able to staircase their development and growth over generations, but this could end for individuals with the demise of APR/ BPR. The government purports to help, but constant increases in legislation and taxation and the removal of APR/ BPR will mean that the only businesses which survive in the long term will be faceless institutions/ corporations which last indefinitely and pay no inheritance taxes. Who will the entrepreneurs for future developments be without sound capital funding to ensure that the businesses continue after their demise? Undermining of viable businesses through short term tax gain and disruption will destroy the future of the company, reduce future tax revenues and seriously impact employment opportunities.
MOVING FORWARD
Having got that off my chest, how then do we, as farmers, move forward? The lack of clarity from government has led to delays in processing grants and payments, with a corresponding knock-on effect throughout the agricultural industry. Under the threat of budget cutbacks our friends at Defra appear to be finding it very difficult to roll out the Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI) and other grant schemes they administer.
Farming Equipment Technology Fund (FETF) 2024 grants are very welcome, providing a maximum grant value of up to £8400 or 50% of the purchase price of our Straw Harrows and £40,800 or up to 60% of the purchase price of our drills which deliver fertiliser with the seed. Announced in February, they were to be available in three tranches throughout the year. However, I wrote my last article on the final day of August and there is still no news on the grants. This is extremely frustrating for farmers waiting to order a Claydon Drill or Straw Harrow as well as for the machinery manufacturers/dealers who supply them who will suffer knock-on disruption, cost and upheaval in their production and supply chain.
When I started farming everything about the industry was positive. New fertilisers, agrochemicals and machinery were coming on stream, while help and advice was freely available from the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service. Now, with bureaucracy and red tape the order of the day, it seems like everyone is trying to trip you up at every turn.
As a born farmer who loves nothing more than growing crops, despite significant weather-related and other issues, I’m still up for the challenge of producing food to help feed the nation. But it is becoming much, much more difficult to turn a profit. In recent years, like many others, we have struggled with oilseed rape, primarily due to the combined impact of cabbage stem flea beetle following the ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments and prices which no longer reflect the high risk this crop now entails. That is changing how we manage the farm, starting now.
The massive changes to the Basic Payment System in England will reduce our income from this source by circa £60,000 annually, so we are seriously looking at what we can do under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). In January 2024, then Defra Secretary Steve Barclay used the the Oxford Farming Conference to announce a significant upgrade to the government’s Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS), including a streamlined application process. However, only in recent weeks, and post-election, we have been given the go-ahead to apply for SFI but having submitted our proposal we are awaiting an answer at time of writing.
Time waits for nobody, seasons come and go, so on our Hanslope Series heavy clay soils we had to start to manage our farm differently. We have embraced SFI, based on what Steve Barclay outlined during January, in the hope that what we have done will meet Defra’s current requirements and qualify for payments. To provide evidence-based data, everything has been recorded on three systems: Claas Telematics on our Claas Lexion combine, the Fendt One Connect system fitted to our two Fendt tractors and sprayer, together with the Omnia digital farming platform which we use to record and manage SFI actions.
Working with Jim Woodward at Farmacy, which is part of Hutchinsons, our main agronomic adviser, we have assessed the SFI options for three 85ha blocks and, potentially, these will provide significant benefits.
- In Year/block 1, the grant for no-till establishment (SOH1 – £73/ha) and growing a catch crop (SOH3 -£163/ha) followed by winter wheat with a companion crop (CIPM3 – £55/ha), will bring £24,735 in SFI payments.
- In Year/block 2, growing a second wheat, the same approach and payments will apply, generating £24,735.
- In Year/block 3, with the area in spring oats, we will have a post-harvest catch crop (SOH3 – £163/ha), followed by a winter cover crop (SAM2 – £129/ha), then direct drill spring oats with a companion crop (CIPM3 – £55/ha). The No Insecticide payment (CIPM4) will add £45/ha and the no-till establishment (SOH1 – £73/ha) grant will take the total payment in Year 3 to £39,525.
Annual SFI rotational options payments will total £88,995, in addition to which there will be a further £5408 in Whole Farm Management Payments. These comprise £1627 for Soil Management Plans under CSAM1 (£6/ha + £97), £652 for a Nutrient Management Plan (CNUM1), £1129 for an Integrated Management Plan (CIPM1) and Management Payments of £2000 in Year 1, £1000 in Year 2 and the same in Year 3.
Potentially, annual SFI income will be worth a total of £94,403, or £370/ha. Details are available at claydondrill.com/grant-funding/ or farmacy.plc.uk.
MAKING IT HAPPEN
Following one of our most uninspiring harvests ever we direct drilled summer cover crops with our 6m Claydon Evolution. Those following oilseed rape came on well, but germination after cereals was delayed due to the dry soil, and they are still lagging.
The Claydon Straw Harrow is at the heart of our stubble management approach and in 2023 favourable autumn weather allowed us to complete four or five passes, each removing a flush of weeds and volunteers. Conditions this autumn have been the exact opposite, dry weather in August into early September slowing germination of volunteers and weeds so much that we only needed to complete two passes before wet weather arrived in October.
Winter wheat now accounts for two-thirds of our cropping and after harvest we drilled a short-term cover crop, Hutchinsons’ Maxi CatchCrop. That was sprayed off and the land sown with wheat using our 6m Claydon Evolution direct drill equipped with injectors behind the front tines. This configuration allowed a companion crop of beans to be placed 75-100mm deep directly into moist soil, with the wheat sown in a band at 4cm deep. This approach will qualify for the CIPM3 £55/ha, SOH3 £163/ha, and SOH1 £73/ha payments.
We started drilling winter wheat, all Group 3 Elsoms Bamford at 190kg/ha, on 5 October, but intermittent rain from then on meant that drilling operations were delayed and sporadic. Autumn drilling normally takes five or six days but this year it was 26 October before we finished. All received a full complement of Avadex granules plus pre-emergence crop protection products and spraying took place from 15 October to 13 November using all the 90,000 litres of rainwater collected from the roof of our factory, leaving the tanks dry in November.
The remainder of the farm will go into spring oats, providing an opportunity to control grassweeds using cover crops, chemical and mechanical methods. Firstly drilling SOH3 (£163) came full of volunteers with some grassweeds, which dominated and if left to the spring would cause problems, so these fields ideally need clearing and replanting in October with SAM2 (£129ha). Clearing the volunteers and grass weeds, gives an ideal cover crop over winter, which will be sprayed off several weeks before drilling the spring oats as per the Block 3.
We’re on a journey with cover crops and there’s a lot still to learn if we are to get the best from them. The goal is that they will help to produce healthier, more profitable commercial crops, benefit soil health and reduce nitrate flow from the land over the winter, helping to meet our environmental targets. That’s a big ask, one which will mean drilling two-thirds of the farm twice and one-third of it three times, so our 415hp Fendt 942 Vario will be putting in the hours!
Never has it been more important to find a way of operating that suits you, your land and your farming situation to provide the income to invest and remain positive going forward. On the Claydon farm we are pleased with how things are shaping up at the start of the season, giving optimism for harvest 2025.
To help others, the Claydon team has developed the Claydon ‘Think’ campaign, which shows how the Opti-Till® System can help to reduce the time and cost of establishment by almost 50%. It also demonstrates how customers improve yields and benefit soil health to deliver healthier, more sustainable, more profitable crops. Details can be found on the Claydon website: claydondrill.com/think-change/
Visit https://claydondrill.com/our-customers/ to hear from farmers across the UK and further afield who are achieving great results with Opti-Till® on a range of crops on varying soils in all climates. You can also keep up with the latest posts, photographs, and videos from Claydon and its customers through the Claydon Facebook page www.facebook.com/Claydondrill
.
