For the second year, FWAG in Gloucestershire are running farm business benchmarking groups using the free, online Farmbench tool produced by AHDB to compare combinable crop enterprises. We are currently looking for additional farmers who wish to join a group, and wanted to offer this opportunity to our members.

Farmbench has been produced to help farmers identify strengths and weaknesses in their farm businesses. Farmers enter data into the online tool, which then produces farm reports that can be compared anonymously with regional and national averages, and to other farms via group benchmarking meetings run by facilitators such as FWAG.

We had a very successful year last year, running four farmer groups that pinpointed some really interesting similarities and differences in farm businesses in Gloucestershire. All farmers found using Farmbench and attending the group meetings extremely useful for providing clarity on the incomings and outgoings of each enterprise on the farm, and as a platform for discussion and exchanging of ideas for cutting costs and streamlining their businesses. Some of the feedback we have had includes:
 
‘Using Farmbench has helped me see how each enterprise on the farm contributes to the business as a whole. Meeting other farmers to benchmark our businesses gave me some interesting ideas for how to cut costs and improve the farm business going forward.’
 
One of our farmers is also featured in Farmers Weekly this week discussing how Farmbench has helped them evaluate their margins, see the attached.
 
We intend to run this second round of meetings discussing the 2018/19 harvest before Christmas this year, and would welcome any additional farmers who wish to join a group. Which group you join could be based on location, what soils you farm on or whether you are an ‘organic’ or ‘conventional’ producer.
 
To be able to attend our groups you need to:

1. Have grown combinable crops in the 2018/19 harvest year
2. Have an internet connection to allow you to use the Farmbench website

We are very happy to come and see you to set you up on Farmbench and can provide support with data entry via workshops in October or in person, prior to the group meetings.

Please do get in touch if you think you would be interested, or have any questions.
Call 01666 503668 or email [email protected].

Click here to download the leaflet.

Click here for more information on the AHDB Website.

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