PTT (Pre Turbine Tension) has set in big time over the last couple of weeks. It has taken nearly two years to get to this point where our little turbines are due to go up so you would think that was plenty of time to get everything sorted to avoid any last minute rush. Not a hope. This last week has been an endless run of phone calls and emails trying to tie things up so something actually happens next week. We had success early in the week when one of the Local Area Network (LAN) teams arrived to take down the overhead cable which would otherwise have interfered with the turbines and their erection. The poles are still there but we can work round those for the moment. We have already replaced the overhead cable with our own underground one. A long wait for MPAN numbers (identification numbers given to individual meters) meant that we couldn’t apply for the energy supply contracts, one for importing energy, one for exporting and one for meter rental (a surprise one that we only found out about this week) until the last minute and they won’t energise the new supply until all contracts are in place. Then there is the slight hiccup that the new incoming supply is not quite finished yet. There are just a couple of cable joints and a couple of bits of kit to fix in the meter shed and we are then ready to energise. On Thursday we were given an energisation date of 27th July which would mean that the turbines would sit stationary for 3 or 4 weeks until commissioning of the turbines could be rearranged for sometime after that date. However with a bit of re-jiggling the LAN chaps are hoping to get something sorted sooner, possibly next week which would be brilliant. We’ll see. Turbine erection starts on Monday and if all goes well could be complete and generating by the end of Thursday. Can’t really believe it might actually happen.
The rather precarious nature of nursery life has been brought into focus (no pun intended) recently with the demise of the Focus DIY chain and the appearance of the list of horticultural creditors in Hort Week on Friday. I hope those companies listed are making bigger margins than most of the nurseries I know because losses of that size would be devastating. We are feeling quite relieved that we decided a while ago to move away from that market area where volumes may be high but stresses are huge, margins low and eroding, contract security levels are thin and worst of all you feel unappreciated, abused and out of control of your own business. I know as a businessman I am supposed to hardened to that type of pressure but being at work isn’t somewhere I want to abandon my heart and conscience it is where I spend a lot of my life, I want it to be fulfilling and rewarding. OK, I know the money is in short supply and it can be really hard work but given a chance this is still a potentially great industry to be involved in at any level and well worth getting out of bed for.
Eco News
Good weather at the moment for putting up a turbine or three.
Electric consumption up to the end of June 3.5% down on 2010 and 23.07% on 2009. Not such big savings now as we have made the easy savings already. Now it will take investment in new kit to make more savings and first we have to wait until we get through a year or so paying off some of the turbine costs.
Lloyds TSB sent us their glossy farming magazine this week, there is a whole page on renewable energy project funding. There is a handy checklist which I have read through and I can tick all the boxes so you would think funding would be a doddle. The one item they forgot to list was, only apply for financial help if you don’t actually need it. Their support was nonexistent in fact it cost us delay and extra cost when our local manager tried twice to get us help. He is coming on a visit this week so it will be interesting to see what he has to say and how supportive the bank will be over the coming couple of winters when cash-flow will be under huge pressure due to the extra commitment we have had to make ourselves. We have to thank our families for their belief and support in getting the turbine project of the ground rather than the extraordinarily conservative bank approach.
Nature notes
The removal of the overhead cable has meant no perches for the pigeons above the pea field. It makes a surprising difference to our outlook as we are used to seeing loads there when there is a tasty crop below. They are now fighting over the three remaining pole tops which will soon be replaced by three more hazardous perches!
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Showing posts with label banks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label banks. Show all posts
Monday, 4 July 2011
Monday, 17 January 2011
Morning all,
Not the best weather yet for kicking off those lively spring sales, but it’s early days yet. We are looking forward to the new season and getting that cash-flow moving again after the lean winter break. For all nurseries it’s always a bit of a juggling game getting through the winter and into the early spring without upsetting the bank manager, especially in these tricky times when the banks are a bit hesitant about lending. With low margins in our sector for a long time, we can be particularly vulnerable to the current practice of passing financial decisions further up the management line at bank. It’s no longer enough to convince your local manager of your security and prospects, it has to go further up the line, I suspect, to one of those lovely chaps who earns those lovely bonuses! Luckily we look to be getting through this winter with slightly less excitement than usual, other than the slight hiccup of wanting to borrow some dosh for 3 wind turbines! I’m sure we will wangle it somehow, just not quite sure how yet. The joys of trying to make progress.
A few exciting things this week, the main one being the introduction of the new CC tags which can be scanned to check their authenticity. Thanks to all those who replied to my request for info on your trolley situation, it should help make the deliveries a little smoother. We now have a scanner to check the trolleys here, but we can’t afford to give all our drivers one each, which would have cost us just under £2,000 just to look after our 75 trolleys. So far we haven’t had a single centre say that they have a scanner, although most are in the CC system, so I’m not quite sure how the system will hold up.
The other news is that we are one of the finalists in the Nursery Stock Grower of the Year Awards. Hopefully it is recognition of our achievements rather than a ploy to get us to buy rather expensive tickets to the awards dinner when the results are announced. I don’t get out much, but I imagine that this price includes a room and you get to take the table, chair and crockery home afterwards too!
New Year, New Season, New Price Point?
We managed to get all the catalogues printed and posted so you should all be in possession of the latest version. There is a download available on the nursery website if needed. Don’t forget that the prices have gone up by 7p/pot after the big coir pot price rise and increases in labour costs. Then there is also the VAT increase on the perennials to consider too. This means you may want to review your retail price points before getting stocked up. Many of you have your stock pre-priced, so you will need to let us know ASAP of any changes so that we can get ahead on the plate making and printing. Thanks.
Over the last couple of months we have been having a really refreshing end of an era winter clear out. With the end of plastic pot production and a focus on recycling we have sorted and shipped out loads of recyclable material. We have a new plastic recycling man (Grassroots Recycling, Warminster) who charges an annual subscription fee but will take all the plastic we can pallet up (sorted and clean(ish)) if we deliver it to him. This has been great for the final post-plastic era clear out, of all those collections of pots and trays that ‘might come in handy one day’. Once we clear this lot we should only have the odd tunnel cover to send in and the tubs and lids from the micro-prop lab. We had accumulated a large scrap metal stack over the years where we upgraded tunnels from gantries to trolley paths and the money we got from that (£180/tonne) will help pay for those areas of recycling we get charged for. Pallets of card have gone back to our backing board supplier, used pallets to the farm for their seed packing plant and old timber scrap is chopped up for the wood burner/heater. Even a collection of old gas bottles we no longer use was collected by a Calor Gas supplier for reuse or refurbishment. Hopefully we will find enough time before the season takes off to finish the job, as it does great things for the morale to see old rubbish finding a new life and the business getting back to efficient and organised chaos!
An accumulation of little projects gets you there in the end. One such ‘little job’ started this week, which was filling the gap between the tunnel bed edges and the side of the tunnels with mulch, to reduce herbicide use on the nursery. We don’t use herbicides on the crops but we do use them around the tunnels to reduce the potential for weed infection. That means filling an awkward narrow strip just under 3 kilometres long! Hopefully this will have quite a long term benefit, we will see.
Thanks, have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Not the best weather yet for kicking off those lively spring sales, but it’s early days yet. We are looking forward to the new season and getting that cash-flow moving again after the lean winter break. For all nurseries it’s always a bit of a juggling game getting through the winter and into the early spring without upsetting the bank manager, especially in these tricky times when the banks are a bit hesitant about lending. With low margins in our sector for a long time, we can be particularly vulnerable to the current practice of passing financial decisions further up the management line at bank. It’s no longer enough to convince your local manager of your security and prospects, it has to go further up the line, I suspect, to one of those lovely chaps who earns those lovely bonuses! Luckily we look to be getting through this winter with slightly less excitement than usual, other than the slight hiccup of wanting to borrow some dosh for 3 wind turbines! I’m sure we will wangle it somehow, just not quite sure how yet. The joys of trying to make progress.
A few exciting things this week, the main one being the introduction of the new CC tags which can be scanned to check their authenticity. Thanks to all those who replied to my request for info on your trolley situation, it should help make the deliveries a little smoother. We now have a scanner to check the trolleys here, but we can’t afford to give all our drivers one each, which would have cost us just under £2,000 just to look after our 75 trolleys. So far we haven’t had a single centre say that they have a scanner, although most are in the CC system, so I’m not quite sure how the system will hold up.
The other news is that we are one of the finalists in the Nursery Stock Grower of the Year Awards. Hopefully it is recognition of our achievements rather than a ploy to get us to buy rather expensive tickets to the awards dinner when the results are announced. I don’t get out much, but I imagine that this price includes a room and you get to take the table, chair and crockery home afterwards too!
New Year, New Season, New Price Point?
We managed to get all the catalogues printed and posted so you should all be in possession of the latest version. There is a download available on the nursery website if needed. Don’t forget that the prices have gone up by 7p/pot after the big coir pot price rise and increases in labour costs. Then there is also the VAT increase on the perennials to consider too. This means you may want to review your retail price points before getting stocked up. Many of you have your stock pre-priced, so you will need to let us know ASAP of any changes so that we can get ahead on the plate making and printing. Thanks.
Over the last couple of months we have been having a really refreshing end of an era winter clear out. With the end of plastic pot production and a focus on recycling we have sorted and shipped out loads of recyclable material. We have a new plastic recycling man (Grassroots Recycling, Warminster) who charges an annual subscription fee but will take all the plastic we can pallet up (sorted and clean(ish)) if we deliver it to him. This has been great for the final post-plastic era clear out, of all those collections of pots and trays that ‘might come in handy one day’. Once we clear this lot we should only have the odd tunnel cover to send in and the tubs and lids from the micro-prop lab. We had accumulated a large scrap metal stack over the years where we upgraded tunnels from gantries to trolley paths and the money we got from that (£180/tonne) will help pay for those areas of recycling we get charged for. Pallets of card have gone back to our backing board supplier, used pallets to the farm for their seed packing plant and old timber scrap is chopped up for the wood burner/heater. Even a collection of old gas bottles we no longer use was collected by a Calor Gas supplier for reuse or refurbishment. Hopefully we will find enough time before the season takes off to finish the job, as it does great things for the morale to see old rubbish finding a new life and the business getting back to efficient and organised chaos!
An accumulation of little projects gets you there in the end. One such ‘little job’ started this week, which was filling the gap between the tunnel bed edges and the side of the tunnels with mulch, to reduce herbicide use on the nursery. We don’t use herbicides on the crops but we do use them around the tunnels to reduce the potential for weed infection. That means filling an awkward narrow strip just under 3 kilometres long! Hopefully this will have quite a long term benefit, we will see.
Thanks, have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
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