Our teams support UK farmers to trade 5 million tonnes of grain each year, helping them find exclusive homes, manage risk with innovative contracts, access sustainability premiums across the supply chain and receive specialist advice. In this blog, I'm sharing more about some of these solutions and the benefits they bring.
Today's agricultural landscape is one of volatility, with a range of factors continually influencing decisions on-farm and across the supply chain.
Extreme weather events and the effects of climate change are increasing, presenting one of the most difficult challenges for the sector as it adapts to changing growing conditions and crop requirements. More sustainable farming practices are key to resilient production systems, driven also by increasing requirements for food manufacturers to reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chains. As a result, taking an optimised approach to ensure grain quality and performance is more important than ever.
Add into this picture a complex and ever-changing world market in terms of grain supply and demand, alongside ongoing geopolitical drivers such as tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine/Russia, and there's a lot to think about when it comes to an effective grain marketing strategy.
Our teams support UK farmers to trade 5 million tonnes of grain each year, helping them find exclusive homes, manage risk with innovative contracts, access sustainability premiums across the supply chain and receive specialist advice. In this blog, I'm sharing more about some of these solutions and the benefits they bring.
Finding value in pool marketing
The above market influences make for an ever-changing trading environment, so when it comes to selling grain the fear of getting it wrong can be overwhelming. With so much invested to ensure a crop reaches its potential, a poor return can impact the bottom line and even change future cropping decisions.
We work closely with our farmer customers to assess how best to de-risk grain marketing decisions, helping them to refine a bespoke strategy that works for them. One such example is through our grain pools.
By committing a proportion of a crop to a pool, farmers can diversify their marketing approach and rely on trading experts to make selling decisions on their behalf.
Through the Frontier pools, our commodity specialists take on the mental load of selling, alleviating the common pressures often associated with trading on the open market. This helps to ensure our pool members benefit from the best opportunities, backed by strong expertise and market insights, allowing them more time to concentrate on other business priorities such as growing a successful crop.
Our pools aren't just about taking on the responsibility of selling though; we also believe strongly in the importance of knowledge sharing. We communicate regularly with our members through a series of quarterly insights, through which we provide updates on trading activity and key market drivers relevant to them.
Reassuring results
When thinking about joining a grain pool, there are some important things to consider:
- Has it delivered consistent results over a long period?
- Can it perform against the volatility in the market?
- Can you trust in the long-term stability of the pool provider?
Throughout Frontier's 20-year trading history we've delivered strong, consistent results for our pool members across all combinable crops. It's something we're really proud of and is testament to our trading experts who understand the importance of providing strong returns to growers so they can ensure their businesses remain profitable for the long-term.
There are also several public and privately funded crop production programmes that are compatible with the Frontier pool, offering a great way for members to strengthen their overall financial security by making the most of other opportunities to increase farm revenue.
Similarly, the 'produce of area' contracts offered mean there's no risk of not meeting contract specifications, even when faced with the impact of severe weather events and not being able to supply a specific tonnage. This can be particularly good for spring crops which typically have greater variability in yield.
A recent example which linked a number of these marketing solutions was our oilseed rape de-risking partnership.
Designed to ensure growers who fulfil the requirements only pay for oilseed rape seed that survives through the establishment window, it removes the financial burden that typically comes with failed crops, with Frontier taking on the risk instead. Those who go on to grow a successful crop have the peace of mind of a non-defaultable contract, with flexible marketing options such as our oilseeds pools helping them to secure the best return they can.
We also connect farmers to contracts which protect against downward market movements, making it easier to take advantage of the upside when the market moves. Our regional strength and variety of outlets ensure a price will always be available for spot sellers too.
As a rule of thumb, an equal split between pool, supply chain and risk management contracts can provide a much fairer opportunity to cover the cost of production, without losing the chance to make the most of an improving market.
Timely movements and storage support
Of course, a successful marketing strategy relies on efficient movement options and storage solutions to ensure grain quality is preserved and product is delivered when it needs to be.
With pools, our movement guarantee outside of harvest ensures that 75% of the contracted tonnage will move within the first two months of the three-month window for each pool period.
Critical to this is giving our growers access to high quality storage too. We have the largest capacity in the UK so, should the weather throw a curve ball, we can help farmers free up space and mitigate the risk should they need to change their plans.
Our movements also continue further afield via our export facilities. We operate multiple deep-sea export sites, giving local farmers direct access to overseas homes for their grain. This can be a vital option for many as they consider how best to add value to their crops in certain market situations.
Examples of UK farm commodities traded abroad include human consumption beans to Egypt and wheat and barley to North Africa and the EU.
Committing to a pool for the 2025/26 season
Our pools are currently open, with registrations to commit winter crops closing on Friday 31st January. If you'd like to register your interest you can do so by simply completing this form and a member of our team will be in touch to help progress your commitment.
Registrations for spring crops will remain open for the coming months.
To learn more about our pools, including past results and different commodity options, visit www.frontierag.co.uk/pools
James Maguire
Sales Leader