Client Profile – DG White Partnership, Berwick Basset, Wiltshire


Keep it simple


With the upward movement of the Wheat price and the forward prices for next autumn set fair there is something of a smile on the faces of arable farmers at the moment.


However they are crucially aware that input costs – especially energy and fertiliser – are also rapidly rising and there is a need to keep right on top of the management. For the DG White Partnership this means keeping it simple.


Edward White


We recently visited Edward White at his Wiltshire farm. They have been a client of the former LE Bull and Co and now


Old Mill for over 40 years and are advised on tax and business matters by Rural Partner Paul Neate. The partnership consists of his agronomist father David White, his mother Diana, himself and his wife Madeline. They combine 3,600 acres, 1,350 of their own, 400 held on Farm Business Tenancies and the balance in contract farming arrangements. To do this they only own two tractors, one combine and employ two staff – the rest of their needs, both machinery and personnel, are hired in during the season when they are required.


This “keep it simple” mantra is followed in the cropping programme: 1600 acres of winter wheat, 800 acres of winter barley and 1200 acres of winter rape, all feed quality with no premium crops. They roughly follow a three year rotation (two of the share cropped arrangements are with dairy farms so the land varies from year to year). They start to combine on the 12 July and aim to finish by the end of August. After 10 years without ploughing they have now started to plough 25% of their land before barley on a four year rotation. Everything is drilled in the autumn and is completed well before Christmas. Edward believes that their set up could cope with an increased acreage. He feels that in Britain we have a restricted view on how far a combine can travel and therefore limit the usage of the most expensive component.


Their biggest step forward in recent years has been the introduction of Precision Farming. He feels the investment of more than £10,000 to set up and


6


approximately £2 per acre per year to run is more than paid back by both improved cropping performance and cost saving in accurate application of fertiliser. With the prices of Potash and Phosphates still sky high this is absolutely crucial. Soil sampling combined with modern computers in the tractor and the combine mean that accurate application can be made with virtually no need for action from the tractor driver and the effectiveness can be monitored.


There are two variations to the regime. They run a commercial oil seed rape store with a capacity of 6,000 tonnes under contract to United Oilseeds. This is owned by Edward’s Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) and was set up by Old Mill financial planning partner Kevin Whitmarsh and pensions manager Steve Woodham. The double tax saving efficiency of this appealed to Edward and it is an ongoing tax efficient way of building his pension fund.


The other variation took me slightly by surprise. It looks as if from April the farm has been given permission to join the HLS. They are an RSPB preferred farm with populations of Stone Curlews, Harriers and Tree Sparrows. This rolls off the back of a previous Countryside Stewardship scheme and will involve taking around 100 acres out of production in a 250 acre block of Wiltshire downland. They recognise that intensive arable farming is not seen as biofriendly and want to give their bit back by focusing on a particularly beneficial area.


Edward views the future with caution. Although he hears the stories of ongoing rises in world commodity prices as the food supply gets shorter for a booming population, he feels there are considerable blocks of land around the world where any increase in price will make it worthwhile to put in the infrastructure and make it feasible for intensive arable cropping. The laws of supply and demand will kick in to keep prices suppressed. His fear is that input costs will continue to rise and be highly volatile. He takes a cautious approach to selling. 80% of his crop will be sold before harvest if the price is right to cover costs but he sacrifices about £10 a tonne to buy an option which will enable him to capitalise if the price rises.


Keep it simple may be the mantra for the DG White Partnership but it is backed by very clearheaded and sophisticated agronomic and business thinking.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16