Growers visiting Cereals 2015 in June will have the opportunity to delve into their businesses at the ‘Measure to Manage’ zone on stand 902, where HGCA will be exhibiting as AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds.

Expert market analysts, regional managers and benchmarking officers will be on hand at the event from 10 – 11 June 2015, to answer growers’ questions about the two sides of arable businesses: production costs and selling price.

Helen Plant, AHDB Senior Cereals & Oilseeds Market Analyst, said: “A combination of large global stocks and no major weather concerns (yet) means that 2015 is looking like another potentially lean season. Under these conditions, a resilient pricing strategy is even more important than normal for helping you achieve your business objectives. Come and talk to us about how our demonstration pricing strategies are performing and the prospects for the season ahead.”

The work of AHDB Market Intelligence on cereals and oilseeds includes running models of pricing strategies, and providing the latest information and analysis on market movements.

The other angle to HGCA’s business work is on costs of production. Benchmarking is the key to understanding these, so the market analysts will be joined in ‘Measure to Manage’ by regional managers and benchmarking officers.

Richard Laverick, HGCA Head of Regional Development, said: “According to CropBench+ data, the average cost of production for first wheat for harvest 2014 was £135/tonne, excluding rent and finance.  Knowing your own cost of production is vital if you want to make informed decisions about when to sell.  The aim of our benchmarking work is to get farmers sharing experiences and ideas with each other, working with each other to find solutions to common challenges and to maximise profits.”

HGCA facilitates benchmarking work through Arable Business Groups and Monitor Farms, using the new online benchmarking tool, CropBench+. During the last 12 months, over 300 farmers have started using CropBench+, which is available at www.cropbenchplus.org.uk.

The Market Intelligence team work closely with the Monitor Farm programme, running marketing workshops at meetings across the country. Some of HGCA’s new monitor farmers will be at the stand during Cereals 2015 to give a grower’s perspective into the organisation’s work on benchmarking and markets.

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AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds will be at plot number 902 at Cereals 2015, held at Boothby Graffoe in Lincolnshire from 10 – 11 June 2015.