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Mark monitors cereal growing costsHello, my name is Mark Mc Collum and I farm with my father Greer on the family farm at Drumcroon just outside Coleraine. My father has been actively involved in agriculture circles over the years having been President of the Ulster Farmers Union (1996-1997) and occupying several roles on various UFU committees LMC and Greemmount Advisory Board. His knowledge of agriculture has been invaluable to me as I embarked on my career in farming. On completion of my NCA course at Greenmount in 1986 I returned to the college in September 1987 to commence a College Diploma course which encompassed preparing farm plans and accountancy. Indeed my time spent at Greenmount only confirmed my desire to follow in my fathers footsteps on the farm. I make no apologies in saying that it is hard following on from someone so successful and respected. His enthusiasm for agriculture has rubbed off on me over the years, and like him, I had the honour of being President of the Greenmount Association in 2008-2009. Our beef and sheep enterprise runs along side our cereal enterprise which we have increased over the last few years to 80 hectares including some conacre. This makes keeping an eye on costs even more important. The cereal enterprise includes Winter Barley, Winter Wheat for crimping and Spring Barley of which a portion is grown for seed under contract for Mortons. I am always interested in something new and not afraid to experiment. In the past I have grown Hemp for industrial production and Maize along with Whole crop cereals being sold off farm. Finding my role on the farm took time however, but after being introduced to an arable discussion group known as Coleraine East Arable Farmers (CEAF) over ten years ago, my interest in the arable sector has grown. It was at one of the meetings a few years back that I was introduced to benchmarking by my CAFRE Crops Development Advisor Robin Bolton as a means of monitoring the performance of my arable enterprise year to year. All costs, sales and all other relevant information are collected and put into a very comprehensive but easy to understand report which remains confidential. The report then is discussed on a one to one basis and any aspects of poor performance can be looked at and dealt with. This gives us a positive insight to the real costs of cereal production and I can plan my growing programme accordingly. Indeed there is a limit to what conacre land is worth and we shouldn’t be paying unrealistic rents if the profit margins are not there. Results of these benchmarking figures make interesting reading and as Chairman of CEAF I welcome Malachy Mason (Combinable Crop Technologist CAFRE) along with Robin to our meetings where fellow farmers can take away some positive information which may lead to improving their farm businesses. I would encourage anyone no matter how big or small their enterprise is to get involved with benchmarking, it is a very useful management tool.
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