The next monitor farm meeting to be held in Co. Down, Northern Ireland will look at whether farmers could be missing out on money-saving techniques with their farm machinery choices.
Downpatrick arable farmer Richard Orr, the host of the project, recently carried out a machinery review and he will go through his figures in detail at the meeting.
“In doing the process of the review I learnt as much as the result,” he said.
Now we’ve got to narrow down the variety of running costs in our machines. It made me think a bit more about what I’m going to do with them and how I’m going to progress.
In recent months, Richard and his father have been moving towards reduced tillage, to try to cut out some of their running costs.
Subtle differences
During the meeting in February, Richard and machinery guru Harry Henderson from AHDB will lead discussions around how to understand and reduce farm machinery costs.
Richard said: “I think a lot of farmers wouldn’t have any idea of what the cost of running some machines is. They just go on the cost of diesel or machinery, but don’t take into consideration what it costs to do each job on the farm.
“Subtle differences can, long-term, affect the whole running cost of your business.”
To find out more, contact Michelle Nuttall, AHDB knowledge exchange manager for Northern Ireland via email on: [email protected].
