Christmas and New Year is the perfect time to reflect and start planning for the year ahead. The rural team at Stephens Scown suggests 12 things farmers should think about this Christmas that may help them to increase revenue and cut costs.

So much is uncertain at the moment, however, there are still many things farmers can do to get their farming business in good shape for 2018.

Here are 12 things to think about when you have your family together this festive period.

  1. Save costs by working collaboratively with neighbours. Sharing machinery for example can bring costs down significantly.
  2. Do any of your farm buildings have untapped potential? Permitted development and class Q planning could be an option to consider.
  3. Look at marginal gains and way to cut costs and increase productivity, perhaps through using some of the new technology that is coming onto the market.
  4. Look at your energy use and see if there are ways you can reduce it to cut costs.
  5. Buying additional land could be a good investment and increase your income stream.
  6. Reviewing your overall tax position as you do your tax return is worth the time and effort and could save you money in the long run.
  7. Renewable energy could still be a good investment, bringing you cost savings and a new income stream – consider battery storage for optimising existing renewable energy installations.
  8. Get creative when you think about diversification. Some farmers have diversified into gyms and nurseries for example.
  9. Do you have any empty buildings you could rent out for storage?
  10. Think about how your business is structured. Would entering into a partnership bring benefits to your business?
  11. Younger members of the family may be visiting during their Christmas holiday from college or University. They are bound to be full of ideas which could just turn into a new income stream for you.
  12. Take some time to look to the future and the things which may be worth investing in over the next few years. From battery storage, which is becoming more affordable and could enable you to store energy you generate on the farm and sell it back to the national gird, to electric vehicles which benefit from substantial grants and will bring down your fuel costs.

As well as having a well earned rest this Christmas, taking some time out to look at what has gone well during the year, and what the opportunities are for the year ahead is always time well spent.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

As first published in Westcountry Farmer December 2017.