The Money Man

finance far more cost-effective than the THEMONEYMAN farming child needing to borrow money to pay off their siblings.” As an example, if a male aged The going green considerations for 65 and a female age 62, both nonsmokers, wanted a £1m pay-out rural businesses with a fxed premium, it would cost £1,663/month for the rest of their lives – or just under £20,000/ By Ian Craig year. “It would take more than 50 years for them to have paid The environmental conference will rise, primary producers into the policy the amount to be COP26, hosted by the UK will still need to be efficient received,” she explains. government, takes place to be competitive.

In comparison, if the farming in Glasgow in November. Changing behaviours child has to take out a £1m loan More than 150 countries takes time, and for farmers upon death to buy out their will come together to to invest or take a risk siblings at an interest rate of 3.5% outline how they will in green technology, tax over 25 years, this would cost reach the goal of net- incentives and meaningful them £5,006/month; just over zero carbon emissions levels of grant need to £60,000/year. “Borrowing funds after death means that they would need to repay both the original borrowed by 2050. The UK is set to announce its hydrogen strategy, designed to shift consumption away from fossil fuels and its Ian Craig, Partner at Azets be introduced. Currently, there are few tax incentives available for investment in green technologies. Buying a new electric car through sum of £1m, plus interest - taking boiler strategy, which will your limited company is the total cost of actioning this outline how consumers all. For rural businesses, quite attractive, but aside post death to around £1.5m. Like will be encouraged to there seems to be a shift from that there is not much most things, it is signifcantly swap oil and gas boilers away from generation else worth mentioning. The less expensive if it is possible to for hydrogen. The total of power to utilisation of current strategy relies on plan for this in advance. bill by 2050 is estimated greener technologies. As the supply chain making

“There are many aspects and to be £400 billion, and the technologies evolve, market other businesses comply options to consider before drawing Chancellor committed £12 forces push prices down and is perhaps overly conclusions,” says Mrs Banwell. “It is sensible to involve all parties to help you reach the most equitable solution for your own billion at the last Budget for green infrastructure and new technologies. This commitment was targeted at larger scale and this will eventually need to happen with hydrogen and heating systems. The problem is the journey needs to start somewhere and reliant on the self-imposed environmental obligations of business. In order to kick start green investment a bolder tax strategy family, providing signifcant peace renewable projects, rather initially these technologies needs to be considered of mind in later years.” than smaller scale projects will be expensive for by Government and the

For more information contact many rural businesses have businesses. Whether there innovators will embrace it. Ben Carter on 07825 620052. developed in the past. will be financial incentives Given the capital-intensive The Feed-in Tariff scheme available to consumers in nature of farming, I don’t which previously encouraged the short term to support think expensive technology

Integrated many rural businesses to develop their own projects a switch in technologies remains to be seen. will be a barrier to some businesses, who may also

Farm was successful, if measured on the number of renewable installations that have As we emerge from Brexit and COVID-19, inflation is driving up be happy to overcome labour issues at the same time. The supply chain is already

Software appeared across Scotland over the last 10 years. costs in the food supply chain and for farmers that benchmarking farmers on their environmental credentials, The tariff was a financial is difficult when capital and there is no doubt keeping incentive designed to offset the initial risk of investing expenditure was already a big cost to justify. Retailers supermarkets are going to turn up the volume on Desk Time to in renewable technology, but I do not believe we will see this scheme reare reluctant to pass price increases onto consumers to protect market share and this. Some more specific guidance on environmental improvements would be a minimum opened. Renewable electricity generation is encouraged at a instead look for efficiencies from suppliers. There is beneficial so businesses know what to focus on, and much larger scale or in projects little or no efficiencies left use of alternative fuels on Farmers are facing ever increasing that can make a financial in the chain, and although farms is not far round the demands for legislative, fnancial return without subsidy at I expect consumer prices corner. and performance data for their enterprises from government If you would like to discuss any aspect of this contact Partner, Ian Craig onbodies and produce buyers (and 01738 441 888 or email ian.craig@azets.co.uk.for their own piece of mind and business management needs). Ian is a Partner at Azets, accounting, tax, audit, advisory and business services group. Straightforward practical software solutions come in more than handy to take the strain.

SUM-IT’s integrated Total farm software (covering Farm Accounts, Livestock and Field records) is designed to ensure farm data need only be entered once. Providing both fnancial and physical records, updating all relevant areas of the farm management database and interacting with external bodies, from HMRC to ScotEID to QMS and many others.

Alongside, Mobile Apps give multiple operators access to their records and an opportunity to view and update animal and feld data events as and when they happen away from the offce, rather than later that evening from a scrap of paper pulled out of your pocket.

As SUM-IT’s software is specifcally designed to cater for farmers’ needs, all the idiosyncrasies of farm accounts (such as contras like commission and levies) are easily processed and relevant auto-populated reports can supply an accurate up to date analysis of each enterprise’s performance.

Initial set up data, such as current cattle on holding, can all be downloaded and imported from relevant bodies to minimise the initial effort of setting up such systems from scratch. SUM-IT’s friendly software support services manned by staff with farming backgrounds also quickly smooths off the learning curve. Go to sum-it.co.uk for

more information.

Farmers: Make your cash work harder

Farmers traditionally reinvest any surplus cash straight back into the business, or hold it in a current account where typically no interest is paid – but their money could be working harder.

By using a separate savings account, farmers can earn interest on their cash while still having it readily available for use. In order to facilitate this, Oxbury, the agricultural bank, has just launched a new 35-day Notice Account, paying market-leading interest rates to help farm businesses get more from their money.

“At Oxbury, most of us have farming backgrounds, so we are truly dedicated to supporting British agriculture,” explains co-founder Tim Coates. “We know cash is king and cashfow management is crucial. However, we believe any cash surplus should be working as hard as possible, so have introduced this new Notice Account to help farmers have the best of both worlds – earning decent interest rates while still having access to their cash within a month.”

The new 35-day Notice Account pays a rate of 0.71% - which includes an active farmer bonus - while the bank’s existing 95-day Notice Account pays 0.81%. There is also a oneyear bond available to farmers, paying 0.86%.

“We do have savings accounts open to the public who want to support British farming, but these farm business accounts offer market-leading rates just forfarmers,” says Mr Coates. “We understand the importance of supporting British farmers so everything we do is designed to help make their businesses better.”

To fnd out more and to open an account, visit, www.oxbury. com