2008 News Archive

New Green Land Agency Service For Responsible Landlords

Protecting and enhancing environmental features makes good business sense for landowners whether they are traditional country estates, farming businesses, local authorities or conservation organisations.

Good environmental management can bring economic opportunity (green branding, added value, niche production, sporting activity), financial support (stewardship payments) and reduces risk (cross compliance, pollution prevention).

By protecting landscapes, habitats and heritage landowners are protecting their estate and investment for future generations. This principle applies to in-hand farms and the land let to others.

To help make the most of estate assets Cumulus Consultants has developed a new ‘green land agency’ service aimed at environmentally responsible landowners who farm in hand and/or let their land to tenants. This development draws on Cumulus’s recent experience of working with landlords such the Malvern Hills Conservators and The National Trust on farm letting policy and practice.

Paul Silcock, MRICS FAAV CEnv and Director of Cumulus, says: "Increasingly, landowners are keen to let their farms and bare land to tenants who value their estates’ green assets, can deliver shared objectives and achieve sustainable business success. Landlords also want to lead by example on their in-hand land."

Paul describes the new service, which can be tailored to individual needs, as the complete package, adding that: "We can develop policy, assess environmental assets, develop management options and then recruit the right tenant where required. We can then help with project implementation, grant applications and training needs."

This service will be formally launched in January 2009 and includes:

  • Environmental assessment
  • Whole farm and estate planning
  • Policy review and development
  • Agri-environment and RDPE grant applications
  • Development of letting particulars
  • Development of environmental management information
  • Development of tenant skills profile
  • Advertising, viewing day arrangement, interview and selection
  • Tenancy agreements – FBTs, licences and others
  • Ongoing tenant support and environmental advice
  • Training needs assessment and skills development

For more information contact the Cumulus team.

Conservation Grazing – Financial Tool For Site Managers Launched

Conservation grazing aims to manage and restore our most precious habitats using livestock and traditional low input – low output techniques.

To be truly sustainable conservation grazing projects need to be financially viable into the medium term and be treated like any other commercial enterprise – albeit one that produces a range of public benefits. Optimising agri-environment support and sales income while keeping costs to a minimum is crucial.

Cumulus has been working with Natural England and the Grazing Animals Project on a business calculator or ‘ready reckoner’ for site managers. It allows users to model and compare management proposals for various enterprises (sheep, cattle, ponies, goats and grassland management), to calculate and modify their main areas of expenditure and estimate sales. The tool can also capture agri-environment and single payment scheme income plus the capital costs of project start up and development. In turn, the calculator generates gross margins for individual enterprises and profit and loss figures for the whole site.

Jonathan Brunyee, Cumulus Consultants, says: "The costs and income streams from conservation sites, although they are relative to standard farm business inputs and outputs, can vary considerably from project to project. The standard agricultural costings books such as ABC and Nix are very useful references but they can be hard to apply to conservation grazing projects. We have tried to build a useful business tool that is flexible and reflects the specific needs of conservation projects."

The calculator was tested on a number of sites during the summer of 2008 and refined. It will be available for wider distribution via Natural England in early 2009. Updates and further development will hopefully follow.

Jonathan adds:"Conservation grazing operations such as flying flocks, non-breeding herds and in-hand stocking can be very costly. A well planned and financially sound project is most likely to succeed and generate interest from other graziers to the benefit of the wider environment."

Rural communities on the road to recovery

The Rural Target Fund (RTF) is an £8.5 million, 6 year grant scheme set up to support rural communities in 50 parishes across South Yorkshire. Funded through the Objective 1 Programme for the sub-region, the RTF is delivered by Yorkshire Rural Community Council (YRCC) acting as the Rural Enabling Body (REB).

Rural facilities

Community consultation and planning, followed by the development and delivery of community supported projects, is at the heart of the REB/RTF approach. Its aim is to deliver services not already available and leave rural communities with the methods and abilities to influence future service delivery, or provide a social enterprise option.

YRCC commissioned Cumulus Consultants to undertake an independent evaluation of the REB/RTF programme in June 2008. Our activities included a postal survey and face-to-face meetings with successful community groups, telephone interviews with unsuccessful community groups, and interviews with funders, stakeholders and YRCC staff.

Key outputs of the programme include a total of 233 grant awards made to 147 community groups, equating to an average of £35,871 per award. The projects which benefited most from RTF support were 55 new or enhanced community facilities which together received 40.2% of total funding (£3.4 million). Other significant beneficiaries include youth projects (9.3%), childcare (8.8%) and community partnership support (8.3%).

The programme’s main impacts include new/safeguarded community space and facilities, skills development, and youth and childcare provision. Broader impacts include improved community participation and cohesion, and greater social inclusion. The programme has boosted confidence in rural communities and made a real contribution to the recovery of the area.

82% of survey respondents rated the RTF as excellent or good overall and a wide range of positive comments were received from community groups during the evaluation work

Paul Silcock from Cumulus says:

"The REB/RTF programme has been an effective scheme. It’s benefited a large number of individuals and made a really positive impact on rural communities in South Yorkshire.  It’s been a great pleasure to witness some of the improvements made."

Wanted – farmers to graze on the Malvern Hills

The Malvern Hills are one of the largest areas of contiguous semi-natural habitat in the West Midlands and contain some of the rarest and most important habitats and species in the region. The hills are designated a SSSI and an AONB. In addition, over 1,000,000 people visit the Hills every year making it one of the most important recreation destinations in the region. 

Sheep grazing on the Malvern Hills

The land is managed by the Malvern Hills Conservators (MHC) and a small number of common right holders (local farmers). However, over the last 40 years the number of active commoners has decreased due to economic and practical management issues.  Under grazing has led to an increase in coarse vegetation, such as scrub and bracken, to the detriment of finer flora and wildlife.

Following a successful Higher Level Stewardship scheme application, the MHC are now seeking to attract and recruit suitable farmers to take over the management of the commons. HLS funding will be used to support and reward appropriate grazing and land management practices.

Cumulus Consultants is acting as MHC’s agent for the initiative and is responsible for developing advertising, letting particulars and application documents. We are also supporting the viewing days and the subsequent interview and selection process prior to finalising grazing licences and management agreements. The hills will be let in three stages and we shall also be working with the existing graziers of Castlemorton Common

Jonathan Brunyee from Cumulus says: "This is a great opportunity for someone with good livestock experience and a commitment to conservation.  There is also scope for adding value to the end product so an interest in marketing would be an advantage too."

Jonathan adds: "This is more than a simple farm re-letting. Our work relies on an understanding of the environmental needs of the Hills as well as the practical and economic realities.  We are aiming to find the best applicant for the holding and develop a crucial partnership."

If you are interested in learning more about these unique opportunities or require support with a similar initiative, please contact us.

Reinvigorated Fruit Focus

With a record attendance of 1,150 Fruit Focus has firmly established itself as the leading event where growers, buyers and others in the industry can meet and exchange views and ideas.

Visitors at the 2008 Fruit Focus

Cumulus Consultants has been working closely with Haymarket Exhibitions to manage and deliver the marketing strategy and campaign for Fruit Focus since its acquisition in 2007. Event presenter Jon Day, from Haymarket Exhibitions, said the reinvigorated Fruit Focus event had been a huge success in the eyes of organisers and also exhibitors.

Significant 'firsts' for the event, which was held at East Malling Research, Kent, on 23rd July, included a new on-site crop trials area and a new 'Vines to Wines' exhibit, the first such technical event for the UK's viticulture industry, both of which generated significant interest.

Elsewhere in the show, the NFU and HSBC Fruit Forums were a tremendous success, with every seminar packed out. The genuine desire on the part of visitors to learn from every aspect of the show, in an effort to keep the UK fruit industry at the top of the league, was evident.

Fruit Focus 2009 aims to build on the successes of 2008 and will be held at East Malling, Kent on 22nd July.

Cereals Event model to be replicated in Poland in 2009

Polskie ZbożaFollowing the success of the Cereals Event in the UK, organisers Haymarket Exhibitions commissioned Cumulus Consultants to conduct a scoping study within Eastern Europe to identify the opportunity to launch Cereals Event Poland.

Positive feedback and research from the scoping study led to Haymarket Exhibitions teaming up with eastern European event specialist Montgomery International to launch Cereals Event Poland, which will be locally know as Polskie Zboża. The event will be held on 4/5 June 2009 at Modrze, 30km from Poznań in the west-Central area of Poland by kind permission of TopFarms, part of the Spearhead International business.

Polskie Zboża will be the first arable field trials based event of its kind in Poland and will target professional farm businesses and advisors. The event will be located on a working farm in the heart of the large scale arable community and will feature leading suppliers, field trials and live demonstrations including crop plots, working machinery demonstrations, the Syngenta Sprays and Sprayers arena and an area dedicated to renewable energy, biofuel and non-food crops.

Launch partners for the event include AGCO Corporation, BASF, Chemtura, Danko, Kuhn, Syngenta, Top Agrar Polska and TopFarms, which together with the incredibly strong Cereals UK brand offers a great template for a very successful event in June 2009.

Record numbers once again for Cereals

For a second year Cumulus Consultants managed and delivered the marketing campaign for Cereals, the leading technical event in the arable industry.

In 2008 the Cereals brand took on a fresh new look with new logo and supporting marketing material in a campaign based on driving technical content to the fore and delivery of a quality farming audience.

Once again Cereals was a runaway success with a record 23,900 people flooding through the entrance gates on 11th and 12th June at Heath Farm, Lincolnshire.

For the two days of mainly dry weather, 64ha of Andrew Ward’s 650ha farm was transformed into Europe’s biggest arable technical field event. Resident for the duration were more than 380 exhibitors, 33 of which presented more than 90 sown crop plots which gave visitors direct contact with some of the country’s leading researchers, plant breeders and technical managers. In addition, there were 10ha of working machinery demonstrations and a line up of over 40 trailed, mounted and self-propelled sprayers from over 20 manufacturers being put through their paces in the Syngenta Sprays and Sprayers Arena.

Plant breeders and the HGCA stands were particularly busy as growers examined the agronomic traits of varieties first hand in the crop plots. The tally of candidate varieties for the Recommended List was particularly impressive with 24 candidate wheats, including Viscount, Cassius and Scout, 16 oilseed rape candidates and a number of spring and malting barley hopefuls.

The machinery area demonstrated a host of new equipment, including New Holland’s new T9000 range of articulated tractors, JCB’s first outing for their 180-230hp 7000 Fastrac series, Landini’s five-model mid-range tractor series and Massey Ferguson’s 5400 series.

91% of exhibitors already plan to return in 2009, a testament to Cereals continued success. The 2009 Cereals Event in the UK will be held on the 10th and 11th June 2009 at Vine Farm, Wendy.

Press play to watch the Cereals 2008 promotional video

Boost for the Rural Economy of South Yorkshire

The Rural Business Growth (RBG) Programme, a £33 million Objective One/Defra funded initiative targeting farming, food and tourism businesses in South Yorkshire, has proven to be a real boost to the region.

Boost for the Rural Economy of South Yorkshire

Delivered by Business Link South Yorkshire, the programme began in April 2002 and ended in March 2008. It offered business advice and financial assistance to help farmers and rural businesses in South Yorkshire become more competitive, respond to changes in consumer demand and add value to their produce, ultimately making businesses more sustainable.

The RBG programme made 219 grant awards to 160 businesses including Bradfield Brewery, The Real Yorkshire Crisp Company and The Crown Hotel. The programme also helped develop the Fantasy Farmers League for local arable farmers.

The final evaluation, conducted by Cumulus Consultants, assessed the delivery, impact and additionality of the programme in order to establish its effectiveness and value for money and identify the lessons learnt.

The evaluation involved an economic impact analysis, a survey of beneficiaries and the development of case studies. The evaluation showed that the RBG programme was an effective scheme which has met or exceeded most of its targets. The programme has been well received by beneficiaries and stakeholders, who acknowledge that BLSY has done well in establishing relationships with rural businesses, building confidence, gearing up a wide range of projects and delivering the desired outputs and outcomes. It has also used the opportunity presented by Objective One and Defra to try new ways of adding value, notably through local sourcing and supply chain activity.

Jonathan Brunyee from Cumulus said "overall the RBG programme has made a valuable contribution to the rural economy of South Yorkshire and provided a good example for others to follow both inside and outside the region".

Read the executive summary

Dairy Collect Scheme – helping dairy farmers in Cornwall

The Dairy Collect Scheme is an Objective 1 funded programme supporting infrastructure improvements on Cornish dairy farms linked to the rationalisation of milk collection and transport.

Dairy Collect Scheme - helping dairy farmers in Cornwall

The scheme is delivered by Cornwall Enterprise and runs from September 2005 to September 2008. The scheme offers grants for extending on-farm storage of milk, improving farm access for larger milk collection tankers, energy saving, reduction pollution and recycling measures.

Cumulus Consultants was commissioned by Cornwall Enterprise in December 2007 to undertake an evaluation of the DCS. The evaluation assessed the scheme’s effectiveness in terms of sustaining the dairy industry in Cornwall and improving its long term competitiveness. We also appraised the scheme’s outputs, business impacts and client satisfaction. Our work involved two postal surveys, a programme of interviews and economic analysis.

Our work shows that the DCS is on track to fully spend its EAGGF/Defra budget of £2.87 million. In total, 210 grant awards have been made to farmers so far, averaging £10,799/award. There has been a good geographic spread of grant awards through the county.

Paul Silcock of Cumulus says "the scheme has changed the way people think and manage their businesses particularly in terms of long term investment and day-to-day operations. The scheme has also contributed to improved production standards, competitiveness, long term viability, environmental performance and confidence".

A survey of DCS beneficiaries provided very positive feedback. Over 92% of businesses surveyed have implemented new business practices and procedures as a result of the support received.

Rural European Platform – a force for the future

An initiative gathering momentum across Europe presently is the Rural European Platform. The focus of REP is to create sustainable rural development through an optimal combination of public policy and private entrepreneurship. REP involves professionals from agriculture, politics, business, science and nature conservation across Europe (Norway to Portugal, UK to the Ukraine).

REP seeks to demonstrate that sustainable rural development is possible if all relevant stakeholders including land owners, farmers, nature organisations and governments at all levels work together to make it happen. Region-specific solutions need to be found and the problem of diminishing government budgets has to be tackled by enhancing the cost effectiveness of public spending and through establishing the right public-private partnership arrangements.

Paul Silcock of Cumulus has been involved with REP since 2006, bringing together examples of effective regional approaches and contributing to networking events. The next event in Portugal, in October 2008, will examine the opportunities for more integrated, regional policies after 2013.

For more information, see http://www.ruraleuropeanplatform.org/index.htm

Rural European Platform

Taking a strategic view of land use

There is much debate presently on how we should use our land in the UK. Pressures on land include increasing demand for:

  • housing and industrial development linked to rising population, more households, rising mobility and continued economic growth;
  • food and non-food outputs from agriculture and forestry;
  • energy production;
  • water catchment and storage;
  • minerals and waste disposal;
  • leisure and recreation.

These expanding demands will put further pressure on our remaining natural environment in terms of the ecosystem services it provides. At the same time, climate change will influence both the supply and demand of land and natural resources, in general accentuating these pressures.

Key land use issues in England and Wales over the next few decades and potential policy options were assessed by Cumulus in a recent project for the Environment Agency. The project highlighted that a vision for future land use is required to direct future policy and that different policy mechanisms might be required to manage the challenges ahead.

A vision for future land use will need to reflect national priorities, be based on good evidence and research, and be developed through public consultation and debate. The vision should provide a strategic and co-ordinated approach to land use, have a long term perspective and link national, regional and local concerns. It must also acknowledge the fact that the majority of land in England and Wales is privately owned.

The pro-active management of demand for land and natural resources will be critical alongside supply-side policies. Demand management mechanisms include pricing, market and fiscal incentives and encouraging behavioural change (e.g. water minimisation, waste recycling and local food initiatives).

The report produced by Cumulus is intended to help the Environment Agency plan more effectively in the future; it should also contribute to the great land use debate.

Cumulus pick up award for ‘Best Marketer’

Cumulus Director, Clare Lovegrove, picked up the award for ‘Best Marketer’ for her work on the Cereals Event 2007 from Haymarket, the largest privately owned publishing company in the UK.

Cumulus pick up award for ‘Best Marketer’

Presented by Lord Heseltine, Chairman of Haymarket and President of the Chartered Institute of marketing, Clare’s work was praised for increasing visitors to the event within a difficult market place, producing record attendance.

Farmers Weekly reported the event as "one of the busiest yet, the atmosphere was buzzing".

The focus of the marketing campaign was based on driving technical content to the fore; working towards delivery of highly relevant communications to arable farmers and the agricultural industry. Cumulus are contracted to work with Cereals through to 2009 to help secure its place as the leading technical event for the arable industry in Europe.

In addition to the award for ‘Best Marketer’ Clare Lovegrove also picked up awards for the ‘Best Trade Event’ together with the Cereals team and the ‘Best New Event’ together with the team working on South West Regional Growers Show.