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Oak Farm is a family owned 300 hectare mixed lowland farm. Although the farm is predominantly arable growing wheat, barley, oilseed rape, beans and peas, there are also 180 breeding ewes and 20 hectares of woodland which are used for pheasant shoots. At the moment they do not breed pheasants and this is an option the family are considering. Figures 15 and 16 show pheasants being bred on a farm for shoots. The farm employs 2 full time staff and the part time manager, William Brown, is the farm owner who also works for a farm business consultancy firm.
The farm has a range of modern and more traditional farm buildings and is in a popular position with good access to the motorway network. However the farm does not make enough money to support the Brown family and pay the full time workers. They need to consider alternative options to make the farm pay. Student Activity
1.Resource 7 shows the income from and costs for the woodlands pheasant shoot. Calculate the profit made 2.Resources 8a and 8b are the profit analysis for winter beans and winter wheat respectively. Complete the highlighted GREEN boxes to find out the total profit made. 3. Study figure 17 of a farmyard and unconverted barns and contrast it with figure 18 of barns where conversion to offices has taken place. Draw an outline sketch of the old farmyard and barn and then annotate your sketch to show how you think the building could be changed for use as offices. What do you think the buildings in the conversion images are used for? 4. In order to describe and evaluate the present situation on the farm, draw up 2 lists under the headings The way things are now The way things could be changed for the better
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| | Figure 17: Unconverted barn | Figure 18: Barn converted for business |
The Brown family need to consider various alternatives in order to make their farm more profitable. They are keen to develop the farm buildings as they are not all used in the farming enterprise. They have drawn up the following list of alternative uses and the have collected information and pictures from other similar enterprises in order to help them make a decision.
Figures19,20,21,22,23,24,25.26and27 show some of the options under consideration. Student Activity
1. Check the alternative uses images and list against RESOURCE 3 Flow diagram of the major types of farm diversification. Are there any other alternatives that you think the Brown family should be considering? 2. List the alternative uses in order of their appeal to you personally. Compare you list with a friend. In what ways do your lists differ or are the same? 3. From the alternative uses list, choose the scheme that you think will be the:-
? Most money making
? Most costly to convert
? Most environmentally friendly
? Most acceptable to the neighbourhood
? Least money making
? Least costly to convert
? Least environmentally friendly
? Least accept to the neighbourhood Compare your list with a friend
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The Brown family have drawn up a list of factors to be considered in any conversion plan listed in Resource 9 Resource 9 ? planning permission
? car parking
? building regulations
? schedule of works
? fire regulations
? architectural drawings
? traffic analysis
? construction
? lease
? taxation |
They have also considered how they might receive financial help for any conversion and the various alternatives are given in Resource 10. Resource 10
? Rural Development Programme
? Regional Rural Development Plan
? District Council
? Listed Building Repair
? Lottery
? Landfill Tax
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The following websites will give you more information about the groups listed in Figure 10
DEFRA www.defra.gov.uk/erdp. On the home page, there are links to Countryside Stewardship Scheme, Organic Farming Scheme, Woodland Grant Scheme, Listed Buildings Repair Scheme and Rural Enterprise Scheme.
District Councils - www.insert the name of the district council /gov.uk
Landfill Tax www.hmce.gov.uk/business/othertaxes/landfill-tax The Brown's have estimated the conversion farm building costs and income in Resource 11 A final list covering any other things they thought were important if there was a change in building use was also drawn up. See Resource 12  |
Student Activity What should the Brown Family do? Your task is to use all the information the family have gathered in order to advise them on their best choice of development. To help you come to a considered decision use some of the following options: 1. Farm buildings conversion - Make a list of the decisions that the Brown family need to make and any possible external events or factors that might occur to influence their decisions.
Construct a decision tree, starting at the left of the page. From each decision box draw lines to represent the alternative choices 2. List the factors listed in Resource 9 in, what you think, are their order of importance. Do the same for Resource 12. Compare your two lists. What similar factors are in the same positions in the two lists. What similar factors are near the bottom of your list of priorities in both lists. Using both lists, select 6 factors that you consider are the most important and for each of the three conversion schemes, rank the 6 factors in order of importance -1 being the least important and 6 the most important factor. 3. Analyse the data in Resource 11. Which conversion scheme is the most costly? Which scheme will yield the most rent? Which one gives the best return? Can you think of any other types of cost to consider? 4. The choice. To help you decide which conversion scheme the Browns should develop, complete the matrix below to weigh up the factors you have considered.
In the boxes labelled 1 to 6 write the 6 factors you have chosen.
In the factor boxes for each scheme insert the rankings you decided upon in question 2
The total factor boxes for each scheme should be the same, but which scheme has the highest score in the first three highest ranking factor boxes?
Is this your preferred choice for the Brown family?
Justify your final choice | The Schemes | The 6 chosen most important factors when choosing the conversion scheme | | Offices | Light Industrial
| Holiday Cottage
| Factor Boxes Total
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