Benchmarking is something that large businesses have been using for many years in order to shape direction, reduce costs, drive profits and grow a business. Increasingly, small firms are taking much the same approach, with outsourced accountancy service providers helping them with the process.
So effective is benchmarking that it has a part to play in every sector, at every level and right from the ground up. Indeed, as one farmer is proving, benchmarking works fantastically well for a business that literally grows from the ground up.
The roots of benchmarking
Farmer James Lee and his family have been working the land of Uppincott Farm for over 100 years. Much of this time has been spent with the family but, in the past two years, the family has taken ownership.
A traditional mixed farm, it is home to 70 cattle and 350 ewes. It also has over 149 hectares of field suitable for the production of crops.
As part of a new drive by the farming community, Uppincott has been selected as one of the HGCA’s monitor farmers. Under the initiative, farms are working to improve their profitability by sharing ideas, debating decisions and generally networking in a way they have never thought about before.
The Australian example
Mr. Lee has visited farms on the other side of the world in Australia and New Zealand; countries that have been using such schemes for a lot longer than UK farms. He says that benchmarking in particular has impressed him on his travels.
He said he has been impressed with the way information is shared in the process, which has helped lift the performance of everyone’s farms. Speaking to Farmers Weekly, he said:
“I’ve picked up a lot from farm walks, and thought it would be good to get a discussion group going; it works well in the dairy industry and it’s always good to bounce ideas off each other.”
Spreading more than the workload
The farm is based in rural Devon, with the monitor farms there being led by the HGCA’s South West’s regional team.
The process is helping farmers to tackle real issues affecting modern farming. Philip Dolbear from the HGCA said:
“The idea is for everyone to put their figures into our benchmarking model and really challenge each other to move all their businesses forward.”
The Lees also have other business concerns, including another farm under a tenancy agreement, summer grazing fields and a drilling, silage and spraying business. With such a workload, the benchmarking is helping the family spread themselves more effectively than ever before, and not just to spread the fertilisers each year.