Helping farmers see if they're up to the mark
Against a backdrop of volatility and uncertainty over future farm support arrangements, it’s more important than ever to understand how well your business is doing.
Benchmarking can help improve profitability and efficiency so we’re delighted that dairy was added to our current Farmbench service at the start of the month.
Launched last year for the beef and sheep, potatoes and arable sectors, Farmbench helps farmers break down costs and identify strengths and weaknesses within their business.
Farmbench is a free and easy to use online tool with simple navigation that allows you to drop in and out at your convenience, saving as you go. This speeds up data entry as you can download a report at any stage. Five new regional benchmarking officers will also be on hand to offer specialist support and guidance in case you get stuck.
Farmers can drill down into their performance data and compare it to key industry performance indicators, explore focus areas and improve cost management across whole farm businesses.
Those with multiple operations can now compare all of their enterprises on one page, highlighting simply the most successful or profitable enterprises in that year.
By comparing results to farms with similar enterprises, Farmbench allows farmers to improve individual business performance and manage many of the challenges facing the sector, such as price volatility, Brexit and economic uncertainty.
You can compare your performance against anonymous benchmarks for the top 25 per cent, middle 50 per cent and bottom 25 per cent of farms. We only use validated and approved data is in the benchmarks, giving you confidence and reassurance about the comparisons.
There is also an international benchmarking model for dairy so farmers will be able to compare themselves to dairies in places such as New Zealand, Australia, America and Ireland.
Farmbench also helps identify the areas that are most in need of attention and inform future plans to improve business performance and succession. It provides an opportunity to learn from the best and adopt what the best are doing to make a profit more often.
The initiative forms part of our drive to upskill farmers by providing them with the tools and understanding to monitor performance relative to their peers and improve their business decision-making.
At present, Farmbench is available for beef, sheep, dairy, combinable crop, potato and sugar beet enterprises.
Take control of your costs and unearth your hidden strengths. Find out more about Farmbench at ahdb.org.uk/farmbench
Doreen Anderson is AHDB Farm Benchmarking Manager
