Caithness Machinery Ring provides members with some price protection
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Caithness Machinery Ring is one of the nine-strong co-operatives within the Scottish Machinery Ring Association (SMRA), which represents over 7250 member businesses.
Spanning the length and breadth of Scotland, the rings deliver extensive services to their members, ranging from machinery and commodity provision, to training and skills development.
With energy prices being of heightened concern, Michael Bayne, manager at the Borders Machinery Ring, acknowledges: "Farm input inflation is a real worry going forward, with enterprise margins certainly being affected.
"However, using the combined buying power of our co-operative, we were able to fix a price for gas oil over nine months from March to November at 54.1ppl. We have reminded members who still have fuel volume to draw down to make sure this is done before November 30, because the current spot price is now significantly higher at over 70ppl.
"Market volatility looks set to remain, but the fuel fixed pricing that we offer to members can help them plan ahead, budget and reduce risk."
Chief executive at Tayforth Machinery Ring Bruce Hamilton, echoes this position of collective power and said: "A dry harvest meant that volumes of gas oil were down for us between June and September, but the price is 40 per cent higher than last year. With everyone talking about these incredible increases in costs, we know how worrying the outlook is for farmers.
"Fortunately, we had already fixed prices for fuel for this harvest, so it insulated our members from market price increases during this time."
During this challenging climate, the Machinery Rings’ buying power enables them to solidify forward contracts and provide a degree of certainty for all sizes of businesses; this includes for utilities, fertiliser and other inputs.
The Machinery Rings have been one of the keystones of Scottish agriculture in recent times, and their success is evidenced through their expanding network of farmers, contractors and rural businesses.
Mr Hamilton pointed out: "Unlike a limited company, the profits that they secure are not taken out of the business, but instead reinvested back into the rings which are all cooperatives."
Painting a positive picture of the future, he added: “All Rings have expansion plans. They want more staff to look after members better, better equipment, better offices and the likes. That way, we can truly support the sector, now and in the years to come."
The nine machinery rings are: Border Machinery Ring, Caithness Machinery Ring, Highland Business Services Ring, Lothian Machinery Ring, Orkney Business Ring, Ringlink (Scotland) Ltd, Rural Services Scotland (Perth), South West Machinery Ring and Tayforth Machinery Ring.
To find out more about the Scottish Machinery Rings and how they could benefit you, visit the website.
