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Investment in the correct grain handling equipment to prevent costly crop deterioration is critical. For the UK market, BDC Systems offers a complete range of grain handling, drying, cleaning and storage equipment, which includes the renowned Skandia Elevator range of belt & bucket elevators and chain & flight conveyors and the increasingly popular Svegma continuous flow grain driers.

BDC Systems is the UK distributor for Skandia Elevator and Svegma driers. Skandia elevator is a company that has specialised in designing and manufacturing innovative handling lines for nearly 100 years and the Svegma drier was first introduced to the UK in 1984.

Over the last few years, Skandia has invested heavily in new manufacturing and assembly plant at their Swedish HQ in Vara. This includes state of the art 3D design capability, robotic punching and robotic folding lines. The company's batch manufacturing strategy allows products to be manufactured and stored on site, resulting in very short lead times from the company's 4500 square metre warehouse.

Product quality is one of Skandia Elevator's major strengths but it is their commitment to the customer and fast deliveries which are critical in the UK. BDC Managing director Andrew Head commented: “The attention to detail, information provided and quality of the equipment are major factors when seeking equipment suppliers and Skandia fulfil all of these requirements.”

Skandia offers three different handling lines to suit the requirements of capacity, usage and quality. Every line is a complete system of bottom conveyors, elevators and top conveyors. Conveyors can be curved or inclined to allow flexibility in plant design. All products within each line work together as a system and are matched to attain maximum flow rates and avoid unnecessary blockages.

BDC Systems has developed the Svegma drier for the UK market over the past 23 years to become a leading player in the continuous flow drier market. With the unique lateral fixing design, the driers are particularly suitable for drying specialist seed crops and malting barley due to the clean unobstructed drying column, as well as conventional wheat and oil seed rape. With various options on, capacities, fuel, control panels, fans and sizes there will be a Svegma drier to suit all situations.

In addition to Skandia and Svegma products, BDC Systems can supply, cleaning, storage and ventilation equipment so offering a complete solution.

For more information contact BDC Systems Ltd, Grafton Road, Burbage, Marlborough, Wilts, SN8 3BA. Tel: +44 (0) 1672 810851,. Email: info@bdcsystems.com, website: bdcsystems.com

CropTec 2017

Join BDC Systems this November at The CropTec Show.

Registration is free for all those who pre-register before the event.

Red Tractor UK has recently launched its new farm assurance scheme standards, which are taking effect from 1^st October 2017. Evie Price, from CXCS, here to give you the low down on the major changes you’ll need to comply with before your next audit.

With the recent launch of Red Tractor UK’s updated farm assurance standards, we’re taking a closer look at what it means for some of the sectors within UK agriculture. All 6 schemes have had their scheme standards updated to include additional requirements for paperwork and certain farming practices, with the changes taking effect from 1st October 2017.

The viability for a business is usually the topic of discussion when Farm Assurance is mentioned; when looking into becoming farm assured, many farmers ask ‘what are the benefits for me and my business?’ Financially the benefits aren’t always clear cut. You must pay to be a member, and whether your produce/livestock actually fetch a higher price than non-assured produce, can often be dependent on other factors. However, now that the average consumer is becoming more interested in where their food comes from, the industry can begin to see the benefit of using their Red Tractor membership to assure the consumer that their produce is 100% British, and at the high quality they expect. Without this, there is no real way of advertising that produce such as British meats, have been raised to some of the highest welfare standards, not just in Europe, but in the world.

This pressure from consumers is just one reason why Red Tractor UK have tightened up on their standards; the organisation has also faced criticism from other groups as well as the media, stating that their standards are the lowest of all assurance schemes in the UK (compared with the likes of RSPCA Freedom Foods). Red Tractor assured farmers have been able to use their membership certificate as proof of competence for buying and using rat bait for industrial use, however this requirement (under VC.b) has now been brought in line with Think Wildlife’s Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use. This means that Red Tractor assured members will now have to complete a site survey, environmental risk assessment, bait plan (kept for 2 years), and a COSHH assessment if there are 5 or more employees. This is double the record keeping requirements compared to the current standards booklet (October 2014 version), and introduces more Health & Safety in to the mix, which some may feel is long overdue.

Additional to this, schemes will see changes from biosecurity and medicine usage, through to effluent containment and silage pit structures. This will bring it in line with, (and possibly above in some cases) regulations such as SSAFO, which are already statutory.

It is easy to take a look at the new standards, and begin to think you will be spending even more of your time in the farm office, but there are certain revisions to the standards which are just inclusions of documents that most farms should already have filed away. An example is a new entry in the Documents and Procedures section of the standards, (DP.a.2), which requires all members to have a farm map in place, showing buildings, watercourses and no spread margins. Sound familiar? That’s because it is very similar to the manure risk map all farms within an NVZ are required to keep as part of their cross compliance records. Similarly, looking at revisions to farming practices, items such as the storage of agrochemicals (AG.a), don’t really ask for farmers to do anything more than what they should be doing to meet cross compliance regulations.

Having said this, we recommend all farm assured members to take some time before their next audit to ensure they are falling in line with all applicable standards as displayed in the October 2017 booklet. All scheme standards booklets can be found on the Red Tractor website at www.redtractor.org.uk, if you haven’t already been sent a hard copy in the post.

If you would like any advice or help to complete your farm assurance records, (including COSHH assessments where applicable), CXCS will be more than happy to help. Visit www.cxcs.co.uk for more information or email info@cxcs.co.uk.

CropTec 2017

Join CXCS this November at The CropTec Show.

Registration is free for all those who pre-register before the event.

Farming Minister George Eustice has admitted there is a ‘possibility’ the new Agriculture Bill could be hijacked by the green lobby.

Written by Abi Kay, Chief Reporter, Farmers Guardian

Mr Eustice made the comments in an exclusive interview with Farmers Guardian.

Pressed on whether people with extreme views on issues such as crop protection could seek to amend the legislation, he said: “Obviously that is always a possibility with any legislation, but there is quite an emerging consensus about what the direction of travel should be and quite an emerging consensus that we should not do any radical change overnight.

“What parliament exists to do is to drive out compromises, and I actually think it is entirely possible for us to come up with a plan which starts a transition from where we are now to where we want to get to.”

Rural Payments Agency

The Bill will give the Government the power to make payments to farmers – with the Rural Payments Agency and Natural England continuing to administer the cash – but Mr Eustice said he also wanted to prepare for future changes.

“We want to start putting the provisions there to begin the transition from the system we have got now, which is largely an area-based system, to something which over time becomes better targeted, more focused on helping farmers manage risks and more focused on farm productivity”, he added.

“We also want to put in place more effective agri-environment schemes which are tailored to local needs.”

Mr Eustice said there would be a ‘very intense phase of engagement’ with non-governmental organisations and farming unions during the autumn, with ‘quite clear indications’ of the scope of the legislation early next year.

The Bill itself is expected to follow later on in the two-year session of parliament.

OTHER COMMENTS FROM MR EUSTICE

Red tape

“I have always been very clear that as we develop a new system, I want to move away from the whole current cross-compliance system we have, which is far too rules-based.

“It is about more than just individual regulations; it is much more fundamental. We want to get a culture change in the way we approach the governance of agriculture policy, so it is less about people coming around with clip boards and a 120-page rulebook they judge farmers against, and much more around having a smaller number of more significant interventions which make a difference for our environment.

“If we can get that culture change, it will be a really important step forward for agricultural legislation.”

Devolved powers

“This is an issue we have made no final decisions on, but we are really keen to ensure there are powers for the devolved administrations to design schemes which work for their own agriculture and their own environment. Everybody recognises you also need to maintain some kind of UK framework in order to ensure the integrity of the UK single market is safeguarded.

“You could not have a complete free-for-all with different parts of the UK pursuing totally different policies, but we certainly want to make sure they have got more powers than they have now to be able to design policies which work for them.”

Devolved funding

“What we have been very clear on in the manifesto is the budget stays the same, so we are not looking for any changes to the agricultural budget over the next five years.

“When it comes to allocations in the UK, this is an issue we have still got to resolve with the devolved administrations, but I suspect in the first instance, we will retain a framework which is UK-wide because there is an existing CAP scheme which is EU-wide. We do not want to have overnight revolution; we want an evolution.”

Funding for Defra

“We have made a lot of progress within Defra bringing all of the different agencies and bodies closer together to join up back office functions to make savings. This is a work in progress and there are further savings we can make through the process.

“Separate to that, we have got a huge amount of work to do in terms of policy development and we have been recruiting additional people to support those teams.

“This decision to leave the EU is the biggest decision we have taken for half a century as a country. We have got to get it right, that is why it is a priority and we will make sure we have the resources we need in Defra to deliver it.”

Access to labour

“At the moment, while we are still in the EU, there is free movement of people and actually the statistics from the Home Office are showing more people than ever are coming to the UK to work.

“There have been specific issues affecting some agricultural sectors, which is more of those people coming here are going into other sectors rather than agriculture.

“This not an issue related Brexit, it is an issue related to the fact it is quite hard work and the level of pay they are able to offer in the agricultural sector.

“But we have always been clear that as we take back control of immigration policy, we are not going to pull up the drawbridge. We will be looking at all sorts of issues such as seasonal work permits, looking at what we can learn from the old seasonal agricultural workers scheme and looking to ensure we have in place the necessary provisions for the labour we need.”

For all the latest farming news and updates from Farmers Guardian, make sure to visit: FGinsight.com https://www.fginsight.com/news

www.croptecshow.com

New website launches to improve two-way relationship between farmers and beekeepers

The relationship between farmers and beekeepers is a vital one. In the UK around 70 of the crops grown are dependent on, or benefit from visits from bees, a value which is estimated at over £200 million per year.

While the importance of bees to UK agriculture is profound, it has not always been straightforward for farmers and beekeepers to communicate directly with each other. However, a new service – BeeConnected – launched nationwide on the 12th September aims to address this issue by digitalising the process of farmers informing beekeepers of their intention to spray an insecticide.

The project is being led by The Voluntary Initiative (VI) and Chairman Richard Butler says BeeConnected has been designed to work quickly and efficiently for farmers and beekeepers alike. He says:

“BeeConnected operates on a very simple, yet efficient, two-way process whereby farmers identify their fields and, in just a few clicks, are able to inform local beekeepers when they intend to spray an insecticide in particular fields. Beekeepers plot the location of their hives, and will then receive a notification ahead of when a farmer within their locality is planning to undertake a spray event.”

A two-way process
The launch of BeeConnected follows a successful pilot which took place in Hertfordshire during the spring spraying season. Andrew Watts, a farmer with 2250 hectares of combinable crops and grassland in North East Hertfordshire, was one of the participants in the trial. He emphasises that BeeConnected is a useful tool when it comes to improving how both farmers and beekeepers interact.

“The countryside is a shared place, and beekeepers need farmers as much as farmers need beekeepers. It’s a two-way process, and anything that improves the communication there – as BeeConnected does – is a good thing.”

Mr Watts has always had a good relationship with both his Spray Liaison Officer (SLO) and the local beekeepers, but emphasises that these relationships have been built on strong communication and mutual understanding:

“It doesn’t happen overnight; you have to work at it. And we do what we can to help. For example, bees are early risers, but they’re early to bed too. So when we spray our beans for bruchid beetle, we tend to spray late in the evening.”

Open communication
Improving communication is also a key benefit of BeeConnected for Mat Smith, a beekeeper based in Bishop’s Stortford. During the pilot he noted that the website was a big improvement on the SLO system of communication.

“The current SLO system isn’t always effective,” he says, “The BeeConnected website is an excellent tool that can improve both bee health and relations between beekeepers and farmers.

“Honey bees are hugely beneficial to both their keepers, farmers and the larger population as a whole, and open communication between farmers and beekeepers can only be a good thing.”

And for Mr Smith, who tends to three hives in his garden, the website proved to be a success in this regard.

“It was very easy to set up, and the alerts came through in time for me to take action to protect my bees,” he concludes, “I can’t think of any reason for beekeepers not to use this service!”

During the development of the project the VI worked closely with the National Farmers Union (NFU), the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) who were responsible for the initial BeeConnected proposal, and the Crop Protection Association (CPA), who funded the development of the site.

Mr Butler adds: “This is a great opportunity for all farmers and beekeepers nationwide to improve their communications, for a mutual benefit. We encourage all farmers and beekeepers to make full use of the site and register by visiting www.beeconnected.org.uk.”

CropTec 2016

The Voluntary Initiative will be exhibiting at CropTec and support our Spraying technology hub, if you're interested in talking to the about BeeConnected visit stand 169.

Book you ticket to CropTec 2016

Entrance is free for pre-registered Farmers & Agronomists

Online general admission: £12

ALL admission with be charged at £15 on the day

OTHER COMMENTS FROM MR EUSTICE

Red tape

Devolved powers

Devolved funding

Funding for Defra

Access to labour

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