How we operate
The operational aspects of Joint Venture Farming are crucial to its success:
1. Farm manager leadership
A designated farm manager oversees all labour, machinery, and communicates with each Joint Venture member. If a member wishes to have more management time to oversee other aspects of the farming operations such as purchasing inputs & selling produce, farm assurance schemes or grant application support then this is available as well.
2. Equitable cost sharing
Costs are shared based on the percentage of land each member contributes. For example, if member A's land is 20% of the total area, they will pay 20% of the group's costs, including machinery rental, servicing and repairs, labor, agronomy, and fuel. The key point is that no extra profit is made by a third party.
3. Machinery
Members supplying machinery will receive rental payments based on a rate per hectare. However, if you don't provide machinery, you'll just contribute to the total machinery costs based on your land share. The full-time farm manager will handle all servicing and maintenance.
4. Labour
All recruitment, day to day scheduling, payroll and performance management is overseen by the Farm Manager. There are opportunities for existing members of a member’s team to be involved with the overall group and they are paid an hourly rate to do so or if required could take up a full time role.
5. Transparent invoicing
Invoices, covering machinery, labour, repairs, agronomy, fuel, and any ad hoc charges, are issued quarterly. All members can access a detailed breakdown of costs, with any queries resolved through discussion before finalizing member invoices.
6. Independent input decisions
Individual members are expected to make their own input purchasing decisions and can use the same suppliers as other members or continue with their own suppliers. They are also responsible for their selling decisions.
7. Shared knowledge
The group comes together through the year for management meetings. These offer members the chance to discuss machinery purchasing decisions, cropping decisions, supplier issues, health and safety as well as sharing business experiences more generally. These can prove to be an invaluable additional benefit by being part of the community.
8. Grain drying and storage
Individual members are responsible for their grain drying and grain store management although sharing stores and facilities is easily managed.
9. Exclusion of loaders
Loaders are excluded from Joint Venture operations, and members are required to retain a loader on their own farm.
10. Harvest logistics simplification
Combining logistics at harvest are streamlined, as fuel for drying is shared on a land percentage basis, eliminating disputes over when harvesting is carried out on each members land.
FAQs
JV farming is simpler to manage and you retain 100% of your farming profit. You are simply benefitting from reduced costs of operation.
JV farming is a collaboration and everyone in the group is aligned with benefitting from economies of scale. Each member has more control over how operations are carried out and when. There is no profit taken out of the businesses.
An FBT is an arms length arrangement that results in you receiving a rent for someone else to carry out all the farming operations. If you enjoy farming (purchasing decisions, selling decisions & overseeing things) and don’t want to give up but want help with the farming operations then Joint Venture farming may be the solution for you.
Windmill Farming doesn’t require you to have shares in a separate business. You simply pay your quarterly invoices for any costs incurred. We do ask that you try and commit for three years and will ask you to sign a non legally binding contract to create some stability but it isn’t essential and if things aren’t working then we ask for a year’s notice to enable the season to be completed.
Our main aim is to drive cost down for all members but depending on the size of the operation there may be the need for additional FT employees. There is always the need for seasonal employees as well and we welcome member’s existing team to get involved if they want to.
No. We believe the group should be at 1000+ hectares to benefit from the economies but this could made up of a number of smaller partners or fewer bigger partners. There are many other factors to consider and it’s worth a discussion before making a judgement on whether you feel you are the right fit or not?
No. You will introduce the land that you responsible for and the JV will then include it within it’s operations.
Yes this is fine. We invoice on a quarterly basis and reset the land being farmed once a quarter.
You are very much in control of your farming operations and therefore we believe your APR is protected. We are happy to discuss this with your advisors if required.
There is no membership fee. You simply get charged for the machinery and labour that has been used to carry out the arable operation on your farm less any inputs that you have contributed. The Farm Manager will run through this with you and show you how it works.
It can really vary. We are looking for people that want to collaborate, wish to retain control of their farming operations but don’t want to carry out the machinery operations or be responsible for the labour. This gives them an opportunity to generate extra time to focus on other things and reduces hassle for them of managing labour and machinery.
They will be kept by the members who claim them, same as financing machinery – nothing to do with the other members. Machinery that is introduced to the group is done at the invoice value or if it’s second hand then an agreed valuation between the JV parties. If there are any subsequent grants that are claimed for that machinery, then they would also go directly to the entity/individual that owns the machine.
The JV operates on the principle of shared resources and costs. All land is treated as JV land, so if the combine is working, it’s for the benefit of the JV, whether on one member’s land or another’s. Grain drying costs are also shared, ensuring fairness if one member’s grain is harvested dry while another’s requires more drying.
Still have questions?
