BRIAN and Rachel Leadley run a 430 hectare farming business in Mid Canterbury.
Their land was flat and spray irrigated, which made it suitable for a wide range of production streams.
They chose to run their business as an arable and lamb finishing operation, cropping the entire farm each year growing a range of small seeds, process vegetables and cereal crops.
Over autumn, winter and spring the Leadleys bought lambs for finishing, using feed grown in grass and clover paddocks.
As a member of Federated Farmers’ arable industry group executive, Leadley held the position of vice- chairman responsible for grain.
As a group it lobbied in support of agriculture and, in particular, arable issues.
As the grains spokesman his role linked closely with his involvement as chairman of United Wheatgrowers.
Like many modern arable operations his farming enterprise was diverse with the crops it produced.
But with that came varying challenges for business planning as he strove for consistency, accessibility and fair value in the marketplace.
“For us, as we prepare to plant a crop, we are already planning for our next crop, considering things such as paddock history, fertility and pest and weed issues.
“For these reasons the crop rotation plan can be a long and complex process to finalise and ours usually ends up with a lot of white-out on it by the time we finish,” Leadley said.
Grower planning was all being done at a time when there were no market indicators as to what the demand for the product might be, let alone the return value.
“Our planning time is still up to 24 months away from a delivery of the resulting plantings.”
Speaking from the farmers’ perspective, Leadley told the arable industry’s grain forum at Lincoln last week that for growers to take advantage of market opportunities they needed to plan ahead and be prepared.
“Grain producers are in the business of growing cereal grains for the domestic milling, malting and feed markets while competing with the international commodity market.
“One of the best aids to help us with our planning is early indications for accessibility of consistent quality, quantity and sized markets that offer opportunity for a product that can reward us with a fair return recognising the value of our product,” Leadley said..
“The variances that we have seen in the past, along with agronomic advances and increased demand for feed wheats, have undoubtedly been contributors to growers moving from milling to feed wheat varieties.”
He acknowledged that for most arable farmers wheat was one of their favourite crops to grow.
“We see wheat as a reliable performing crop so have invested heavily to ensure our ability to reliably supply quality produce that consistently meets the requirements of our buyers.”
Sustainability and environmental impact were without doubt utmost in his mind when planning the farming year.
“Environmental impact, the mix of crops on the farm rotation and the financial benefits of those crops needs to roll together into a financially sustainable business model if we are to ensure our future.
“The supply reliability is very important to us as we need to be recognised as reliable producers to gain reputation and therefore repeat business.”
Pricing remained difficult to find a consistent, reliable figure that could be quoted year in and year out given the international influence on domestic prices.
“As growers we constantly look at ways of driving efficiency into our production and adopt opportunities to control production costs while trying to maintain or lift our yields.
“With the international influence this does become challenging to maintain what is seen as the fair return for product.”
Leadley said that remained a driver for farmers researching all options when planning crop plantings.
“It has always been an influencing factor between feed wheat and milling wheat and with the demand from the dairy sector for stock feed that is likely to remain,” he said.
New Zealand produced over half the world’s carrot, red beet and radish seeds and as the world recognised NZ’s climatic and soil ability linked with the industry investment in machinery and skills then the possibility of increased competition for arable land from the small seeds sector was likely.
Add to that the development of fresh vegetable production increasing its demand then opportunities for growers were surely there.
“But having said all this I must remind you that we need cereals in our system to support these other land uses so we actively engage with the industry to help support long-term cereal production,” he said.
Public influence on farming systems and water use together with management practices in agriculture were having a huge influence on decision makers and farming practices.
Arable farmers recognised the importance of all those issues to the future of NZ both as a country and to agriculture.
“Farmers are doing what we have done for generations, producing food while learning and adopting advances, developments and efficiencies in the way this can be done.
“The difference now is that we not only have to record everything we do. We also need to report this to our markets, regional councils and of course the public and to date the consumers who demand this do not appear willing to pay for it.
“Given the format and audit process required to achieve this, we are indeed moving into the times of needing a licence to farm,” Leadley said.
He commended the industry for backing growers with an accredited quality assurance programme that supported safe, sustainable and traceable growing and storage practice.
Industry structures were well developed, enthusiastic and skilled to push growth further but while growers embraced all opportunities he was not confident that was enough to ensure future sustainability.
He urged better communication between growers and the marketplace.
“We are producing high quality, world record crops yet still we are importing a large percentage of our domestic grain needs as NZ growers compete with subsidised wheat on an unlevel global playing field.
“I am unsure how long producers, processors and manufacturers can continue to absorb this.”
