SAM Dale, Farm Business Consultant at GSC Grays, is urging farmers to take advantage of free specialist advice to help deal with the potentially serious financial ramifications of this year’s weather affected harvest.

According to the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, UK farmers could lose up to £889 million on crops harvested between July and September 2024 compared to 2023.

With average to poor returns on crops like barley, wheat and oilseed rape, many farmers could face significant cash flow challenges. To mitigate these financial pressures, farm businesses are being encouraged to focus on resilience and strategic planning.

Sam explained, “The key message during this challenging time is that help is available. Agriculture shouldn't be viewed in a single 12 month period. Yes, this is likely to be a hard year, but it wasn’t long ago when some arable farmers we’re having one of their best. It’s about building resilience during the good years so you can weather the bad ones, like this.

“Realistically, we are now seeing what seems to be a three to four year farming cycle, compared to the previous seven to ten year cycle. While options like the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) are worth considering and I believe that it offers something for everyone, I wouldn’t recommend jumping into it making wholesale changes based solely on one poor harvest.

“Farmers are deeply connected to their businesses, which can make it difficult to step back and consider new approaches. It's easy to feel disheartened by the current weather and crop prices, but there is specialist advice available to help navigate these financial challenges.”

More than 1,000 farm businesses have signed up with GSC Grays for the free Defra-funded Farming Business Advice Service (FBAS). This service includes one-on-one consultations (up to three days) and provides a second opinion to help farmers take a critical look at their business from a different perspective.

“Through our FBAS scheme, many farms have had positive discussions, and finding a trusted partner to get started really helps. I strongly recommend that farm businesses take advantage of this free advice before the scheme ends in March 2025.” added Sam.