Excessive fuel costs can be brought under control
Mr Forristal advised that machinery cost control is essential, and that there is scope to reduce fuel costs.
Energy strategies which can reduce fuel costs may also reduce machinery depreciation, repairs, and even labour costs.
The first step in tackling fuel costs is to quantify your fuel use.
The following fuel saving options should be considered:
* Change of system. For example, adopt min-till, but this level of change needs to be carefully considered (min-till is not suitable in many situations).
* Machine settings — reduce working depths, optimise settings.
* Select fuel-efficient tractors and machines.
* Match machines within the system, and operate efficiently in the field.
Mr Forristal said time spent on the road with machinery carries a con-siderable cost in labour, fuel, depreciation, and running costs. Where road travel is significant, machine capacity has to be increased to get critical tasks completed without timeliness penalties.
This is relevant for growers trying to achieve scale by renting land in fields or blocks at a distance from their base farm.
A winter wheat-costing exercise using the distances from one of the BETTER farms showed a considerable variation in machinery costs, depending on the size of the distant block, and the distance to be travelled.
The messages were that estimating the cost of farming at a distance are complex but it should be done, and these costs should be taken into account when considering land rental.
A net reduction in costs would be achieved on all the BETTER farms if all the growers strive to work close to their own base.
