Sugar beet producers can now break down costs and identify where the strengths and weaknesses lie within a farm business following a new industry collaboration.
AHDB and NFU Sugar have teamed up to introduce sugar beet as the latest addition to the benchmarking initiative Farmbench.
The online tool also covers cereals, oilseeds, potatoes, dairy, beef and lamb enterprises allowing farmers to enter their business production costs in one go.
In all systems of production there are points were money is lost and profit is made, analysing that system to minimise the former and maximise the latter is key to business success.
It comes at a time when sugar beet growers are currently exposed to increased market volatility in the post-quota world, coupled with the loss of key actives such as neonicotinoids.
According to the two organisations, there are already nearly 100 sugar beet growers using Farmbench.
AHDB Head of Farm Economics Derek Carless said: “Cost of production is a factor that falls firmly within the scope of influence on farm.
“Understanding this better across your whole farm will allow you to reflect and fine tune, make informed decisions, weather uncertainty and grow your business. In short Farmbench will help put you in control of your future.
“Being able to benchmark and compare these with similar growers is the first step to making improvements.”
Farmbench can be used anonymously and all data is secure. The tool is free at the point of use, as it is funded by the AHDB levy.
