Gleadell Viewpoint Spring 2014

SPRING 2014

By Appointment to her Majesty The Queen.

Supplier of Quality Seeds Gleadell Agriculture Ltd Lincolnshire

VOL 12, ISSUE 1

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www.gleadell.co.uk

Decisions, decisions!

What to do about new crop marketing?

As we go to press we are three to four months away from the UK harvest beginning. Wheat and rapeseed production looks like rebounding significantly from the diminished crop sizes of the past two marketing seasons.

Likewise across the world, apart from part of the US affected by dry weather, supply is seen as ample and crop prospects appear good. Until recent events in the Ukraine, prices have not attracted much farmer interest for any commodity.

Historically £150/t to £160/t ex farm is a high price for feed wheat – this is a fact and not a matter of dispute. It is surely sensible to sell something at this sort of price, and to sell a bit more if prices rise further.

In round numbers, as we stand today, the downside potential for new-crop wheat prices is about £20/t, whilst the upside potential could be up to £50/t if an as yet unforeseen significant weather event were to occur in the next few months or if events in Ukraine result in logistical issues or sanctions that radically affect grain flows or market access. Of course, the chance of a bull market never disappears until northern hemisphere crops are in the barn and we have already seen, and will see more, price spikes that represent good marketing opportunities.

The graph below showing Gleadell’s Jan–Mar 2014 wheat pool result illustrates the inherent volatility of today’s grain markets. Farmers selling on the open market would have had to sell most of their wheat before harvest to beat the average £170/t achieved by the pool – in reality hardly any did that.

The danger for harvest market prices in particular, if a proactive market approach is not taken, is that we could see crop marketing forced into a narrow period of time as we all wait for the blue touch paper to be lit and prices to sky rocket. So what could we do to mitigate the risk of prices turning south?

Using pools and a range of other contract types has become a key tool in managing risk and recent weeks have shown us the unpredictable and volatile nature of the global market we all live in. It is almost impossible to forecast where, for example, the Ukrainian situation ends up, or what the longer-term impact for our markets might be, however price supportive it feels right now.

David Sheppard, managing director, Gleadell Agriculture

www.gleadell.co.uk

Contents 02

Gleadell traders provide key background information on the current grain, oilseeds and pulses markets and assess prospects for the harvest 2014 crop.

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Market Price Market Price

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Pool Base Price Pool Base Price

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Increased production coupled with potentially lower crop margins could put new–season prices under pressure. But, says fertiliser manager Calum Findlay, nothing is certain in a global market.

Average Pool Price

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Aug13 Sept13 Oct13 Nov13 Nov13 Dec13 Dec13 Jan14 Jan14 Feb14 Feb14 Mar14 Mar14 Oct12 Jan13 Feb13 Feb13 Mar13 Mar13 Apr13 Apr13 May13 May13 Jun13 Oct12 Nov12 Nov12 Dec12 Dec12 Jan13 Jun13 July13 July13 Aug13 Sept13 Oct13

@gleadells

FERTILISER FOCUS

Average Pool Price

170 170

GleadellAg

SPOTLIGHT ON SEEDS The latest Recommended List contains some exciting wheat and OSR additions that will prove popular this autumn.

Seed manager Chris Guest previews some of the best.

Gleadell Jan - Mar 14 Wheat Pool Result (£/t)

190 190

ENSUS Ensus, one of the largest bioethanol plants in Europe, has new owners who are investing £50m to make the plant more competitive, potentially very good news for farmers.

Gleadell Jan - Mar 14 Wheat Pool Result (£/t) 200 200

MARKET OUTLOOK

CAREER CHAMPIONS Bright Crop is a recently launched initiative to help attract new talent into the increasingly progressive and diverse agricultural sector.

Gleadell has been involved from the start…

Gleadell Agriculture Limited

VIEWPOINT

Feed grain Record 2013 global wheat and corn harvests confirmed the bearish market outlook back in the autumn as exceptional yields were reported across most major producing regions.

Although consumption is expected to grow by an above-average percentage, end-season stocks of wheat and corn should still increase year on year by 5% and 18% respectively. The general market trend has remained bearish, but the strong pace of export sales, supply issues, farmer retention and, more recently, political turmoil, has provided underlying support which, at various times during the season, has portrayed a market sentiment much more bullish than the actual numbers would suggest.

Looking forward to 2014/15, the global wheat area is expected to increase as farmers look to maximise winter grains sowings. However, output could decline as yields are unlikely to repeat the levels of the previous season.

Lower prices should stimulate an increase in demand, mainly in feed, as well as in the expected expansion of the bioethanol sector.

With the increase in consumption set to match production, ending stocks for 2014/15 should remain similar to those witnessed at the end of this season. Global trade is forecast to decline from this season’s record levels, predominately from China as the slowdown in growth and increasing grain production may reduce its import requirements.

In the UK, after two atrocious seasons – 2012/13 with very poor yields, and 2013/14 with a much-reduced wheat area due to adverse weather conditions – 2014/15 appears to be returning to a more ‘normal’ year. Wheat sowings, although disrupted in parts of the country, are set to rebound to just shy of 2m ha, up 19% on the year.

In general, crop condition and yield potential remain favourable. A return to ‘average’ yields would put the UK wheat crop at about 15-15.5m tonnes, placing the UK as a net exporter for the first time in three seasons, depending on final yield and quality. How this affects the UK market dynamics remains to be seen.

David Woodland, trader

02

Milling wheat After an aggressive start to the new season, volatility returned to UK milling premiums leaving the market questioning the UK crop size and breadmaking wheat availability for 2013/14.

Despite the marked quality improvement last harvest, when 38% of Group 1 wheats achieved the full 13/76/250 spec, millers’ appetite for imported wheat continued in earnest.

Last season’s import programmes fed through to the new crop changeover at the

Malting barley Demand for malting barley has increased overall during the past five years. That might sound like good news, but the dynamics have changed.

Demand for winter malting barley has vastly reduced while demand for spring types has sharply increased. At the same time the winter malting area has declined faster than the spring crop has grown.

The winter malting crop has always been the maltsters’ fallback in seasons when spring crops have been poor. But only 19% of the winter area is now sown to malting types, down from 40% in 2010. Supply next season might not be enough to meet even this reduced demand.

This will put huge pressure on the estimated 290,000ha English spring barley crop to produce well above average yield, excellent malting quality and very low nitrogen. History tells us that will be very difficult to achieve.

Spring barley demand has risen mainly due to the growth of the distilling market (max 1.65% nitrogen). English farmers

end of October. Reduced domestic milling wheat production following autumn 2012’s challenging plantings led to a mid-season import renaissance and domestic premiums increased to import parity.

With UK wheat production estimates declining from 12.5m tonnes to 11.9m tonnes, import projections have increased from 1.3 to 1.8m tonnes, with some forecasts as high as 2m tonnes (2.95m tonnes in 2012/13).

Milling premiums recovered from season lows of £13/t over feed but with imports for the first half of the season slightly ahead of last year and the pace set to continue, growers with old crop stocks might well be advised to take advantage of better premiums whilst they can.

Looking ahead to the coming harvest, the UK trade will have to re-establish markets for UKP and UKS after two dismal harvests. Domestic millers will hope for a return to “normal” but with premiums over the past two seasons well above the five-year average, it is disappointing to see the area of Group 1 and 2 wheats decline 2% year on year to just 18%.

Forward milling premiums are all to play for but harvest quality will dictate all.

George Eddell, milling wheat trader

have traditionally grown for the 1.85% brewing market and have averaged 1.75%. Agronomic conditions do not suit low nitrogen barley as they do in Scotland. Little wonder that up to 50% of the barley grown for distilling ended up on the feed heap last season.

To manage risk for the 2015 crop, winter growers should market most of their grain on one of the many types of contract available, as homes will be few and far between, especially for harvest.

Spring growers who cannot consistently grow under 1.6% N (there may be limited distilling contracts with a fall back to 1.8%) should not be tempted by big distilling premiums but look to a higher-yielding brewing type barley (1.85% N) or Null-Lox contracts (up to 1.92% for domestic use).

Premiums for crop 2014 and 2015 will be significantly better than the current crop.

Stuart Shand, sales director

MARKET OUTLOOK

Oilseed rape The oilseeds complex started with the European harvest and a seemingly plentiful supply of oilseeds. A record canola crop of 18m tonnes was recorded in Canada, the Australian canola crop exceeded 3m tonnes and the US harvested about 82m tonnes of soybeans.

This pushed prices lower across the oilseeds complex as we headed into the new year.

As always with the volatile oilseeds complex, things can quickly look very different. The frozen roads and ports of Canada and an ongoing railcar dispute started to create serious logistics problems for Canadian crushers and exports. Even with canola calculating into international destinations the record crop has been unable to flow into European and Asian crushers. Australian seed was redirected from Europe to other destinations normally serviced

by Canadian seed, creating tight supply and demand for old crop rapeseed. Prices have risen accordingly.

As farmers returned to work after Christmas good volumes of ex-farm sales were recorded across Europe. Further price declines looked like a real possibility with a record South American soybean crop looming.

At the time of writing around 70% of the Brazilian soybean crop has been harvested.

The market is looking to China for cancellation of further soybean purchases from the US – the volume of these cancellations should provide

Pulses

Organics

Prospects for the 2014/15 bean crop will depend on the area of spring planting to the end of March 2014. The area is expected to be slightly down from 2013 but official farm census data shows the winter area is up 29-30%. Provided we have favourable weather through to harvest, final crop size will be similar to last year’s 450-460,000t.

Despite the downturn in organic raw material usage the market has kept relatively stable. It is good to report that all of the UK 2013/14 domestic supply should be taken up by milling and feed consumers.

Prices for feed barley, wheat and triticale have risen as there appears to be little left on farm.

Milling wheat follows the firm trend with very good premiums depending on quality. A low protein 9.5% with good gluten content will pay £20/t premium over feed wheat.

Pulses also remain in good demand as prices for other imported commodities have risen. Quality

Demand for the finished product remains strong.

2013/14 produced the best quality crop for some time and Egypt has confirmed that it wants UK beans of the right quality.

Specification requirements remain the main criteria with emphasis on moisture admixture and beetle damage. Good crop husbandry and conditioning of the final crop should be part and parcel of growers’ plans. This will pay dividends as the premium for top-quality material is expected to range from £20-30/t over feed beans.

Pea buyback contracts are becoming desirable for those growers looking for a rotational crop.

Securing an outlet is important as demand is finite and competition from Canada underpins the world supply and demand.

Ian Skinn, pulses trader

clues to further market direction.

Tight supply in Europe and the US contrasts with a plentiful global supply. With large fund positions in the oilseeds complex and rapidly changing political and fundamental dynamics, the market remains extremely volatile.

Chris Wood, oilseeds trader

milling oats remain in short supply so good premiums are still available. However, feed oats are too expensive currently to feature in feed formulations.

Despite doubts over UK supply, consumers remain comfortable buying hand to mouth.

As far as 2014 prospects are concerned we have experienced a wider and satisfactory window for winter and spring sowing. This, together with a good summer’s run-in to harvest, should mean we can expect a successful and productive season.

The organic sector is finding much needed support from DEFRA and the multi nationals who now appear to be back promoting organic produce and emphasising the benefits of organic over free range.

Brian Wilburn, organic trader

Oats The oat market could soon be back on the rollercoaster as the huge production from harvest 2013 of 965,000t could be replaced by just 650,000-700,000t for the coming season.

Oat millers are expected to buy 515,000t, which leaves little room for quality problems evident in the past three seasons. The millers are likely to carry over a bigger percentage than usual, given the size of the 2013 surplus, which could affect prices in the harvest period. However, the smaller crop size should eventually keep the market steady as the demand for oat products inches forward each year.

Robert Leachman, oats trader

GLEADELL AGRICULTURE

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VIEWPOINT

Multi-million pound investment aims to get Ensus back on stream Ensus is one of the largest bioethanol plants in Europe but has never operated at full capacity.

A change of ownership and a £50m investment Alcohol (bioethanol) is distilled in these columns up to 95% spirit, before further purification to 99.7%.

is set to change all that, explains Ensus grain and animal manager Stewart Easdon

Ensus started production in early 2010, but difficult

CropEnergies, which acquired Ensus in July

market conditions means it has not yet run

2013, wants to improve the competitiveness

continuously. The plant, situated in Teesside in the

of the company and is planning to invest

north east of England, has an annual capacity of

more than £50m over the next few years. The

400,000m³ of bioethanol, plus 350,000t of distillers’

first wave of investments in the summer and

dried grains with solubles (DDGS), an animal

autumn of 2013 focused on maintenance and

feedstuff, as well as carbon dioxide for use in the

repairs to help commission operations as

drinks and food industry.

quickly as possible.

All this represents a potentially valuable market

Other aims include building up working

of more than 1m tonnes of feedstock grain for farmers near to the plant and, given the volumes involved, one which would help support prices further afield.

However, the UK market has suffered fierce competition from subsidised US bioethanol imports, limiting any market uplift. The EU reasserted fair competition by introducing a tax on those imports from the start of 2013, but last autumn saw a massive increase as US supplies were redirected via Norway, circumventing the tariffs. The European ethanol association, ePURE, registered a complaint with the EU against these illegal imports in January 2014.

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capital, developing new structures and merging the business operations with the CropEnergies Group. Ensus had previously concentrated on the core business of bioethanol production and outsourced procurement and sales of raw materials.

These functions will now be carried out in

The Enus plant needs more than 1m tonnes of grain every year. greenhouse gas savings. The goal is to return the plant to profitability within a period of two years

house and within CropEnergies AG as part of

after the CropEnergies takeover.

established procedures.

The UK ethanol market is of particularly interest

Now that production is up and running, investments will focus on stabilising the production process and improving energy efficiency. The aim is to increase the use of available capacity, decrease production costs, optimise production and increase

to CropEnergies. After Germany and France, it is the EU’s third-largest bioethanol market.

Ensus’s location on the east coast and its good links to local ports make it ideally situated for exports to Scandinavia, where there is high demand for bioethanol.

INVESTING IN BIOETHANOL RAW MATERIALS Ensus needs more than 1m tonnes of grain every year to produce 400,000 m³ of bioethanol and 350,000 tonnes of DDGS. The plant can use most cereals, provided starches can be converted to sugars, to produce ethanol. That flexibility allows Ensus to react to ever-changing raw material markets.

How is bioethanol produced?

Feedstock containing fibre, starch, protein and sugars is milled and then cooked with steam to break down long-chain molecules. This material is cooled then yeast is added to ferment it, producing alcohol, CO2 and residues.

Alcohol is then distilled to produce 95% pure spirit and dried to 99.7% by passing it through molecular sieves. Distillation residues are centrifuged then thermally dried to produce distillers’ grains.

In normal harvest years we would expect a high proportion of Ensus’s raw materials to come from UK farms. It is something we look forward

on areas of high ecological value, such as

ideal partner for Ensus and, in turn, for many

to achieving after two challenging harvests in

forests, grassed areas or moors.

farmers across the north east.

terms of both quality and quantity.

CERTIFICATION

Ensus sources its raw materials from a number

To ensure the sustainability of their product,

of grain merchants with whom it has forged

all bioethanol producers are certified by

strong links. Gleadell is now the leading supplier

an independent expert according to a

of sustainable UK cereals into the plant.

governmentally EU approved certification

SUSTAINABILITY

system. This will include the examination of

The EU demands that 10% of the energy used in the transport sector comes from renewable resources by 2020. However, only biofuels

origins of raw materials, so farmers have to document the sustainability of the raw materials they produce. Both the Red Tractor and SQC

which are proven to be sustainably produced

schemes are approved as RED compliant.

may be used.

Ensus is already ahead of the game. Bioethanol

In the Renewable Energies Directive (RED), the

produced at the plant exceeds the greenhouse

EU has stated that biofuels such as bioethanol must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 35%, compared to fossil fuels, from the

gas savings required by the EU. In addition, the integrated production concept ensures nothing goes to waste – raw materials are

beginning of 2011. From 2017, the figure is 50%

completely used.

and from 2018 60% in new plants.

Producing ethanol since 2005, CropEnergies has

All steps of production are taken into account,

invaluable experience in the bioethanol business

from sowing and fertilising the energy crops, through transporting raw materials and processing them, to the use of the finished fuel in motors. In addition other social and environmental standards have to be met – for example, it is prohibited to plant raw materials

with experts for all parts of the value chain.

From the growing and selection of the raw materials, ethanol production, the optimisation of plants and the production of high-quality food and animal feed products, CropEnergies’ know-

The CropEnergies Group is part of Südzucker, Europe’s largest sugar producer, which is also a strong player in the production of fuel ethanol.

CropEnergies has production plants in Germany, Belgium and France as well as trading offices in Brazil and the USA. With the acquisition of Ensus, CropEnergies increased its production capacity by 50% to 1.2m m³ of sustainably produced ethanol per year, making the company the second-largest bioethanol producer in Europe.

CropEnergies also produces high-grade neutral alcohol, used by the beverage and cosmetics markets, for example, as well as more than 1m tonnes of high-quality food and animal feed.

how and the financial possibilities make it the

The Products

discussing the introduction

Bioethanol is a renewable

by over 90% of

fuel used to replace petrol.

Who is The CropEnergies Group?

of E10, which can be used petrol-powered cars.

Some countries use pure

DDGS is a high-quality

or almost pure ethanol for

protein animal feed. The

driving – such as Brazil –

non-fermentable components

but in Europe it is mostly

of the grains are further

blended into petrol or used to

processed and dried. Used

produce an octane booster.

as a feed for cattle, pigs or

In the EU, petrol can contain up to 5%

even poultry, DDGS replaces soya imports on

ethanol by volume (E5), and some countries

which the EU heavily relies due to a shortage of

have already introduced E10. The UK is

suitable domestic protein crops.

GLEADELL AGRICULTURE

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VIEWPOINT

SPOTLIGHT ON AUTUMN SEEDS New varieties set to boost yield and profits Gleadell’s seed manager Chris Guest previews some exciting additions to the latest Recommended List that are set to find a place in growers’ drills this coming autumn.

Wheat Several newcomers will be high on growers’ shopping lists this autumn, providing better yields and new marketing opportunities.

Two are of particular interest.

SKYFALL This new milling wheat from RAGT is a very interesting prospect, taking Group 1 yields up to a par with the market-leading variety JB Diego (which is, of course, a feed wheat) and

stacks up well too – with excellent all-round disease characteristics and the addition of OWBM resistance.

EVOLUTION The Group 4 sector is boosted by Evolution from Limagrain, which brings

considerably higher than its breadmaking rivals,

yield plus good all-round agronomics. It yields

better foliar disease resistances, and would

including Solstice and Gallant.

like KWS Kielder and KWS Santiago, but has

make an ideal partner to spread risk.

OSR This season we see new material top the RL list in the shape of the hybrids, Incentive and Harper, and conventional varieties Charger and Trinity. The hybrids look especially exciting additions, with high gross output through excellent seed yield and oil content and sound agronomics.

INCENTIVE Incentive (to be marketed as Incentive 45) is very quick to establish and move through its early growth stages, which will be vitally important following the ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments. The variety is slightly later maturing than Harper and would sit nicely with it, spreading the harvest workload.

HARPER Harper, a new entrant from Bayer, has high gross output and oil content along with stiff straw. The variety has excellent stem canker resistance scoring a 9.

The highest yielding hybrid is a new addition from Syngenta, SY Harness. It has excellent seed yield – and scores two 7s for disease resistances.

A new conventional candidate Campus from KWS looks a sound all-round variety. It has yet to receive its final National Listing and as such full data is not yet available, but should be soon.

Short-height hybrids for earlier sowing?

We may see more growers move to early sowing this season due to the ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments.

In these situations the short-height hybrids really come into their own.

They still have hybrid vigour in the spring but their low-biomass nature

Charger and Trinity have little to call between them.

One is very slightly higher yielding and the other slightly better agronomically.

and excellent stem stiffness will

Oil contents should be high on a grower’s decision tree as this represents a valuable extra bonus towards the gross margin.

First choice will be Troy, the market

There are also some very interesting new candidate varieties. These include Advance from breeder Mike Pickford, a low-biomass variety bred in the UK with an outstanding oil content of 46.7%.

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Agronomically the variety

enable growers to drill early without subsequent lodging problems. leader in this sector. However two new interesting varieties, Marble and PX113, both have solid disease scores and high gross output potential and are worth watching.

Prospects for peas The UK pea crop has been revitalised over the past two seasons. Many growers forced into this option in 2013 due to poor autumn drilling conditions have rebooked after a successful crop.

Modern varieties have moved peas forward agronomically and memories of combining flat crops one way are now a thing of the past.

The large blue Daytona has taken a strong market share and we are pleased to see an exciting variety added to the PGRO list called Campus. It is the highest yielding large blue on the list with outstanding agronomics including standing ability. It should be available in 2015.

Marrowfats still retain the highest gross margins, despite the slight yield penalty compared with large blues. Colour retention is essential for end-user acceptance, and for this reason Kabuki remains the variety of choice.

GLEADELL UPDATES

FERTILISER IN FOCUS Managing volatility in a truly global market Since 2008, the fertiliser industry has invested heavily to ensure that supply continues to meet growing demand and to become more efficient and address the challenges presented by greenhouse gas emissions.

GrowHow UK is now fully committed to working

demand. Canadian and Russian potash producers

The upturn in grain production that is forecast

within environmental and carbon regulations,

will also increase capacity.

could bring some downward pressure on grain

producing 35% of Britain’s fertiliser

While these projects reflect human influence

prices at a time when we see an increase in

requirement. Through the growing partnership with Gleadell it expects jointly to comply with any future requirements.

The global population is expected to rise to 7.5bn by 2020, so the ability to manage and service the ever-increasing demand for food is vital. Global sales of fertiliser are forecast to rise 3% in 2014; this increased demand will be met by several new projects, which will be commissioned in the next 12 to 18 months.

over production, global warming, soil types and sustainability of natural resources will remain the drivers to determining agricultural productivity.

Crop prices and fertiliser subsidies in some agricultural economies will continue to be the main influence on fertiliser demand. Any decline in crop prices will negatively affect the income of cereal and oilseed rape growers everywhere.

All commercial farmers are now very aware of the economic fertiliser-to-crop price ratios and

New urea capacity in Asia and North Africa will

although current values on offer would suggest

move into full production while in China and

that these remain favourable, a balanced view

Morocco an increase in phosphate production

should always be maintained.

will all help to support the expected growth in

fertiliser capacity. However, any mention of gas supply problems from Russia will continue to add huge uncertainty into the mix. Like grains, the fertiliser market is now a truly global market, with its associated volatility.

Spring demand has been supportive towards fertiliser pricing but, as we move towards the new season, values could start to come under pressure. Gleadell will continue to support farmers, offering a mixed buying policy including fertiliser trackers (see below), min–max contracts and fixed price contracts before making any final decisions.

Calum Findlay, fertiliser manager

Gleadell Blue Bag Tracker – minimising the risk Gleadell is working closely with GrowHow with the introduction of a pilot purchasing scheme, the Blue Bag Tracker, which aims to make blue bag fertiliser the first choice for UK farmers.

The Blue Bag Tracker is a simple but very effective concept designed to reduce the marked volatility of this market, which is exposed to so many global influences.

It is based on daily values of fertiliser over the term of the scheme, providing farmers with a true average market price.

Farmers have the added benefit of a later paydate easing cashflow and if preferred can also use Gleadell finance to extend further against any grain sales they have made.

Gleadell expects to open its new-season

new-season terms were released in 2013, good

October payment and gave an extremely good

Tracker shortly and predicts many growers

volumes were booked nationally at prices well in

result for those growers who put their faith in

will now consider this to be a sensible option in excess of the eventual Blue Bag Tracker result.

Gleadell and experimented with this new and

these volatile and unpredictable times.

The tonnes sold on the open market were on a

innovative way to purchase their

How has it performed so far? As soon as

cash basis; all the Tracker scheme was priced for

fertiliser requirements.

GLEADELL AGRICULTURE

07

VIEWPOINT

CAREER PROSPECTS

Bright Crop – Gleadell helps pave the way for new young talent Gleadell is proud to be

and plan a route to a career in farming and

involved in a new industry-led

food supply.

initiative called Bright Crop,

Gleadell has nominated a Bright Crop

which aims to encourage more young people to consider a career in the farming and food supply sector.

Ambassador, Chris Langdon, a successful grain trader in the company, to help promote the scheme. He will be involved in visiting local schools to encourage and inform young

With the population growing and less space to

people about careers in an industry that they

grow food, the industry needs talented individuals

may not have considered.

with ideas and know-how to keep the UK up

In addition, George Eddell, one of Gleadell’s

to speed. It has been calculated that 60,000 new jobs are needed in farming and food supply

newer recruits, has been involved in the scheme from its outset and has taken part

“Bright Crop is an important initiative for an industry which has far more to offer than people might think,” says George. “Agriculture is progressive and extremely diverse and it’s great to help promote a profession which I’m passionate about.”

Please visit www.gleadell.co.uk/careers

in a promotional “Trade-It” video where he

to view George’s ‘Trade-It’ video.

Bright Crop encourages young talent to explore a

talks about his work as a grain trader and

Further advice on the Bright Crop scheme can

wide range of job roles, get tips from the experts,

why he chose a career in agriculture.

be found at www.brightcrop.org.uk

Trainee Farm Traders

Trainee Fertiliser Trader

– Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, the South, South West & Kent

Based at Head Office in Lincolnshire and

by 2020.

Exciting careers on offer from Gleadell

reporting directly to the UK fertiliser manager.

Gleadell is increasing its on-farm presence in these regions by recruiting additional

Gleadell, the UK’s leading independent agricultural merchant, is a forward-thinking company that continues to expand in a competitive market.

Staff levels have risen to 130 in the past five years, based at seven locations throughout the UK. Exceptional individuals are given the opportunity of an exciting and successful career.

farm traders.

As part of our fertiliser sales and marketing team you will receive bespoke training to generate opportunities and margin within our rapidly growing retail and wholesale fertiliser sectors.

The successful candidates will be enthusiastic, organised, self-motivated people displaying excellent communication skills, self-confident with a hunger to succeed in a highly competitive environment.

These roles are fast paced and require people

Working with our sales force you will continue to build and develop further our farm customer base.

The ideal candidate will be customer focused and approachable, as well as being able to identify, understand and communicate UK and

that can adapt to many different situations,

global market trends to both our customers and

building excellent long-term relationships

our farm-trading team.

between Gleadell and farmers.

An agricultural or business-based graduate with

An agricultural or business-based degree

a keen interest in agriculture and trading would

combined with an agricultural background

be suitable for the role.

would be an advantage but is not essential for these roles.

Please submit applications (to include a covering letter and CV) either by email to

Gleadell offers full career development though

recruitment@gleadell.co.uk

its bespoke Gleadell Advance training scheme

or by post to Mrs C Holmes, Gleadell

along with a competitive salary and industry

Agriculture Ltd, Lindsey House, Hemswell Cliff,

leading benefits.

Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, DN21 5TH.

DISCLAIMER: Prices quoted are indicative only at the time of going to press and subject to location and quality. Gleadell Agriculture cannot accept liability arising from errors or omissions in this publication.

HEAD OFFICE Lindsey House, Hemswell Cliff, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire DN21 5TH

T 01427 421200 F 01427 421230

Gleadell Agriculture Limited

www.gleadell.co.uk