NFU Chippenham, Malmesbury & Sherston

12/08/2022

The Farming team had a fabulous afternoon yesterday discussing all things farming, helping us to shape our plans for 2023. We managed to capture this rare opportunity of having all the team in the same place at the same time with a picture.

Our dedicated farm team have over a 100 years of combined experience 🚜💛

Pictured from left to right: Caroline Dicks - one of our Agents. Jenny Ball, Alex Potter, Naomi Taylor, Wendy Rotton and Jack Edwards. We are just missing Emily Cox who is currently on maternity leave.

04/08/2022

The work doesn't stop for Jack! After a day visiting our farming clients, Jack has recently been busy stacking bales in the evening. 'What beautiful weather to farm in! Although, lets hope for some rain soon!'

04/08/2022

Naomi, on route to one of our valued farming clients. We do in person visits at least yearly. This review is really important to us - it enables us to deliver the best service possible by understanding everyone's unique needs and ensuring everything is up to date.

04/08/2022

04/08/2022

08/06/2022

V is for Vehicles - Discounts for you on vehicles and machinery.

As a 'thank you' for supporting the NFU, we offer our members a range of discounts and affinities which will benefit their businesses, including big discounts on new vehicles.

From A - V (Alfa Romeo to Volvo - lol) the discounts vary per manufacture so take a look at the specific details online, and don't forget to cast your eye over our other brilliant offers too - including NFU Fuel Card, tyres and 4x4 accessories - here:
Vehicles & Machinery www.nfuonline.com/member-rewards/vehicles-machinery

01/06/2022

U is for Utilities - on your land or in the office, we can help.

Our lobby for improved access to all utilities for farm businesses across England and Wales - in particularly mobile and broadband connectivity which still evade some rural business today - continues on behalf of our members.

But we also support individuals or groups of farmers impacted by infrastructure developments such as pylons and masts on farm, to major road improvement schemes and everything in between - notably in Wiltshire the (now suspended) Stonehenge A303 works, and further afield the HS2 development, for example.

We also help members get the best from their utility providers through buying groups, and decide which renewable energy options are best for your business from concept to completion as part of the NFU Energy service.

To find out more - that's right - visit www.NFUOnline.com

25/05/2022

T is for Tenants - We're here for you, too.

No matter how you are, how you farm or what you farm, we are here to support you, and represent your sector.

The NFU Tenants Service comes with its own dedicated helpline (on 0370 300 0288) and is your first point of contact for assistance and professional advice on tenancy issues. The Service also includes £600 towards professional advice required for your rent review, and professional expenses cover for protection against the cost of a rent arbitration or dispute - see our tenants pages online under the 'Services and Resources' section for more details. We even host a specific Tenants Conference annually - normally in person but of course the last couple have been virtual.

You can watch the 2021 conference back again online here: https://www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/nfu-live-tenant-farmers-conference/

18/05/2022

S is for Sectors & Services - Something for everyone at the NFU

We probably ought to go around the alphabet again to cover all the sectors, but that’s a lot of weeks to concentrate so instead I wanted to mention some of the huge range of sectors and topics that we have experts on within the NFU business.

We've already mentioned Dairy, Tenants, Organics and the Horticulture teams (in our Labour post), the Poultry (see Influenza) and the Environment team (see Flooding, but they cover much more than just this) - but there are many, many more.

For example did you know we also have teams covering (deep breath...): combinable crops, livestock, sugar, climate change & renewables, farm business including BPS and agri-environment schemes, hill farming, science and technology, international trade, procurement & food services (aka the retailer facing team), animal health and welfare, net zero, regulation, infrastructure projects, TB, and campaigns (in addition to the Education team we mentioned under K)? AND we are sort-of-siblings with the National Pig Association. We also have dedicated teams offering expert advice and services in addition to our Call First, Planning and Employment gangs, including: Legal Assistance, Energy, Tax & VAT. Crikey that's a lot of experts - and reading the list back that's not even everyone!

The lesson of this post: the NFU is a Tardis of expertise, and we are involved in EVERYTHING that impacts your farm business and your ability to produce food - working to make British policy better for our members.

12/05/2022

R is for RURAL CRIME

As well as the big picture, long-term industry-wide essential work we do, we also focus on the here-and-now issues our members face. Unfortunately rural crime impacts our members on a daily basis and the NFU Mutual estimated that in 2020 crime cost our industry more than £43 million - the average claim costing individual farmers around £4,500*.

We work nationally to raise the profile of rural crime with the police and government to ensure that it gets prioritised for funding and action at all levels. We ensure that links to organised criminal gangs are recognised, we lobby (successfully) for laws to be changed to give police more powers to seize assets and courts better powers to prosecute, and we work locally to raise awareness of rural issues and (successfully here in Wiltshire) lobby for increases in rural crime team numbers. But, we cannot achieve these changes without providing evidence of the need for change - and ONLY YOU can provide this evidence.

It is ESSENTIAL that you report EVERY crime on your farm or businesses to the police via 999 (crime in progress), 101, or via each constabularies online reporting system. Regardless of weather you think the police will respond, and no matter how big or small the crime REPORT IT - or the police and government will think our county is safe and will not allocate resources to deal with rural crime.

REPORT ALL CRIME.

Sorry for shouting.

Find out about our work online here: https://www.nfuonline.com/cross-sectors/rural-crime/

23/03/2022

Thanks goes to NFU Mutual for sponsoring a scarecrow at the 2022