Contractors report upturn in business (From Western Telegraph)

Contractors report upturn in business

Agricultural contractors are reporting an upturn in business as farmers shed labour and machinery.

Pembrokeshire growers and producers are streamlining their businesses and embracing the flexibility and savings of contracting out work.

Gone are the days when expensive silage-making equipment lie idle for 11 months of the year. Equipment has improved considerably in the last five years and this is directly reflected in the work quality of contractors like Michael and Peter Rees.

They are in business at St Florence, operating as Rees Brothers. When the milk price began to fall, they noticed a major upsurge in business. Few farmers are in a position to replace ageing machinery and no longer have the staff to operate it.

The labour just doesnt seem to be on farms any more. Why keep a new tractor or forage harvester when you havent got a man to operate them, says Michael.

After a late spring we seem to be busier than ever. The good weather has kept us flat out on arable and silage work.

Contractors use machines to their maximum efficiency, minimising overheads in a way no farmer could match.

Field work can be done quickly with professional drivers, leaving farmers free to concentrate on their livestock. But contractors too are feeling the pinch as farm incomes decline. Machinery, repairs, fuel and labour expenditure have steadily risen but contractors feel unable to pass on the true cost of these increases to their customers. The weather-dependant nature of their work also creates difficulties.

We still have our bills to pay even when the weather puts us out of action for days on end, says Michael Rees.