THIS welcome burst of spring sunshine is just what we needed after the wet winter, but we must not forget that it is the time of year when most farmers have an end to their accounting period.

Like everything else in life stocktaking valuations have got more complicated; and looking back at my 1961 diary, I see that I could complete up to 11 in a long working day, whereas now if we squeeze in half that number we are lucky. With inevitable distraction of urgent land work, there will be the temptation to put aside the stock take, but I would just flag up the following pointers to avoid future problems:

• Take a piece of paper and count your livestock. Better still record some detail of sex, age, weight and value which can be refined later;

• The same applies to your produce including any cereals left on hand together with forage;

• For growing crops write down what acres have been sown by your year end date. There is a practice of averaging the value of growing crops on a per acre basis, which I believe is coming under increasing scrutiny. For me and many of my fellow professionals, the value of our growing crops is the sum of our inputs including seed, fertiliser, sprays and cultivations.

New rules from the Inland Revenue require us to be specific about the depreciation, we have included or excluded on the cultivation element.

• This year especially, there has been a carry over of seed and fertiliser left unused from that awful 2012/2013 season.

You need to include these leftover stocks as they are a continuing asset in your business.

It is more than 60 years since I started going round with my father and I still love stocktaking, being able to visit so many old clients and appraise their highly-varied businesses, is a real privilege.

If you are struggling why not give your valuer a call.

 

Sps online problem

IT may be only a temporary blip but I see from the RPA website that the Government Gateway had problems over the weekend, stopping some users getting onto the system.

Please be aware that this can happen and you will be well advised not to leave completing your claim until the last minute.

 

Paterson slashes red tape

THE reign of Owen Paterson as Defra minister may not meet with everyone’s approval, but at least we have someone in Government who is prepared to be proactive in our own industry.

Following on from Richard McDonald’s report on red tape a couple of years ago, Mr Paterson announced another great raft of regulatory forms to be put to the sword.

This latest development comprises 336 regulations covering water, environment and agricultural standards which, it is claimed will save £300m per annum and for the benefit of the green brigade, without impacting on animal welfare, the environment or food quality.

Paterson’s objective is to allow farmers to gain “earned recognition” meaning that those who perform better in inspections will, in the future, be inspected less often.

One of the measures to help is the conversion of sheep reporting to online based systems and this is going to happen over the coming months.

 

Criticism of HS2

THERE is growing criticism of the Government’s obsessive determination to push through the HS2 project, and the environmental audit committee is the latest voice to suggest there should be better safeguards to minimise damage to ancient woodland and SSSIs.

This follows Margaret Hodge, who is chairman of the public accounts committee, commenting that the Department of Transport has not yet demonstrated that this is the best way to spend £50bn. on rail investment in these constrained times.

Professor John Whitelegg, of Liverpool University, has gone one step further calling HS2 “a rich person’s folly and a socially regressive project to transfer cash from poor to rich”.

This highlights the reality of HS2 that it will be available only to those with a lot of money. I just hope the Government have a rethink.

 

New livestock market update

Since the long-awaited announcement last week that a planning application had been lodged, there will be a lull until official reaction comes from the council; but in the meantime Pat Foxton tells me he is organising a meeting of the Farmer’s Company Directors to progress heads of terms for moving the market.

I understand that when there is something more definitive to report the intention is to call a public meeting but that may not be for a few weeks yet.