Science, GM crops and bigger farms are 'future of farming'

One of Scotland's most progressive young farmers, and winner of last year's Farmers Weekly Farmer of the Year title, Adrian Ivory of Strathisla Farms in Strathmore, said scaling up to improve efficiency was the way ahead.

He highlighted the experience on his own family farm where a loss on 600 acres had been transformed into a margin of 39 per cent over costs, before interest, on 2,200 acres as a result of expansion and rationalisation of the business.

Subsidies account for 19 per cent of his income but even without subsidy, the margin is 20 per cent. He reckons the same margin could be maintained if subsidies were withdrawn as market prices would increase to fill the gap.

"We decided not to have too many eggs in one basket and to concentrate on enterprises where we felt we could be globally competitive," said Ivory. "We dropped carrots, broccoli and fruit and now specialise in cereals and beef production. We're seeing the profits come in by increasing the scale of our farming operation to improve efficiency."

Ivory said it was important for the industry to harness science and technology to maximise yields. He deplored the Scottish Government's opposition to the use of genetic modification.

"How on earth can we move forward in crop science if we are not going to be allowed to use GM?" he asked. "It offers huge benefits to both farmers and the public, including the potential to treat cancer."

Ivory said he could not understand why farmers continued to steer bull calves when keeping them entire offered huge financial benefits. He had found that 96 per cent of his young bulls reached the top "U" grade, compared with 36 per cent for steers. The bulls finished six weeks earlier and made 150 a head more than the steers.

He works closely with Sainsbury's, ABP and McDonalds.

"I prefer to work with supermarkets and not against them," he said. "They understand that, without profitable farmers, they have no food."