[Pundyburn Lynn]

Hello folks,
 
I never know which heading to post these things under. 
 
We now have finance in place to buy some farmland for smallholding, although suitable land is quite difficult to find in Perthshire and Stirlingshire.  Meanwhile, we are beginning to think about our business plan, which is essential under local policy if agricultural accommodation is to be considered.  We initially plan to keep pigs and poultry to supply meat directly to butchers, restaurants and end users, as well as live stock to other smallholders.
 
The figures for a business plan would be readily accessible but quite laborious to collate.  I wondered if there is anyone out there doing a similar thing?  Does anyone have an example business plan with figures that you would be willing to share through PM or email? 
 
As usual, I would be awfully grateful!
Lynn

[smiley bucket]

Hi, well done raising finance to buy land, if you can do that you'll have no problem doing a business plan! I found a couple of plans by looking on the councils planning applications when I saw someone doing what I wanted to do so may be worth a trawl through.  There are templates free to download which do all the calculations if you input the numbers, then all you need is the gift of the gab to fill in the boxes!

[Pundyburn Lynn]

See, this is why i ask - I hadn't even thought about the planning portals.  Next question - does anyone know of a successful smallholding that's recently been granted planning?
 
I will also check tinterweb for downloadable stuff,
 
Many thanks!

[Stereo]

Planning for what? Accommodation?  I can't see you getting that for a smallholding to be honest. Unless you can prove that you have need to be there 24/7 and a profitable business. Maybe possible but I've never seen it happen (as a parish Councillor).

My mate up the road owns 44 acres and rents another 150, is a full time farmer and had a hell of a job getting planning for a house, even with the local council behind him. They have been living in a static caravan for a few years and even that was a struggle, planning wise.

Best thing to do would be to grow your hedges nice and high and get on with it.

[shygirl]

theres not much profit in pigs, especially if selling to a butcher - and you will possibly need alot of red tape to sell chicken meat unless you have a processing farm near by, so i cant see much profit there either.
but if its your dream - go for it.

[Pundyburn Lynn]

Hi folks,
 
Sorry I missed the last two responses. 
 
Stereo - in Scotland in several local authorites they WILL grant planning on agricultural land as long as you can demonstrate that you have a sound and solid business plan.  This has happened on many occasions and was not what my post was trying to argue.  I just wondered if anyone was willing to share the details of their business plans.  Neither do I plan to make profit on Pigs!!  Any development will be for subsistence purposes - just for our own eating.  However, we did make a fortune last year on the eggs from 50 hens...
 
I was purely looking for the details.
 
 

[shygirl]

 We initially plan to keep pigs and poultry to supply meat directly to butchers, restaurants and end users, as well as live stock to other smallholders.

Neither do I plan to make profit on Pigs!!

 
are you wanting to run a not-for-profit charity then? why would you want to supply butchers and restaurants etc and not aim to make a penny?

i dont understand why many people on here become a bit offended if you mention making profit but the other options are breaking even or subsidising somebody else with your time and energy and money - which isnt sustainable year after year unless you are well off. self-suffiency is a different ball game.
or did i mis-understand and you are just going to pretend to run a business purely to get Planning?
if so a place up here build a new equestrian centre but they werent allowed to build their house for, i think, 3 yrs as they had to prove their was a viable business - which it was.

[Porterlauren]

Shygirl - I think much of the issue is that many of those that buy small holdings, never actually need to make the land pay. How else could you justify 8-10000 an acre for a few acres, no business plan, short of building houses will make any real money on that sized patch at that cost. It's less about making a sustainable, profitable, rural business, as turning a bit of agricultural land, into a garden, with animals. . . with a nice new house in the middle.

Not aimed at the o.p!

[doganjo]

And I have a friend near Lanark with 20 acres who wanted to build a house on it so she could be near her animals, sheep, a couple of pigs and hens.,  Even after various enviro reports, business plans (done by me), agri consultant reports etc  it wa refused at the end of three gruelling years, and she went up a couple of days later to find one of her pigs had lumps cut off it - a vagrant they presumed as one had been seen wandering around.- poor tame friendly beast had to be put down, permission still refused.

[Pundyburn Lynn]

The whole idea is to be sustainable, not necessarily making mega-bucks.  There are different policies in different local authorities that allow for this.  For instance, perth and kinross allow for eco projects where the land use sustains the household.  Stirling allows for sustainable living projects.


I have no intention of 'screwing the system', and that's quite a harsh conclusion to jump to.  Nor am I interested in smallholding purely to build a house.  We've had livestock and growing our own food for years.  I hadn't realised that by asking for data I would be opening myself up to such criticism.

[shygirl]

its not criticism i just didnt understand what information you were asking for.    i still dont so i look forward to learning something new in this thread!   

[Backinwellies]

i just didnt understand what information you were asking for.   

Neither do I  and from the other posts neither does anyone else .... maybe a better explanation of exactly what you are asking could help?

[doganjo]

Simple question "Does anyone have an example business plan with figures that you would be willing to share through PM or email?  "
Don't know why there was any discussion.
I'll PM you some links that might help as I did someone else a few days ago.

[Pundyburn Lynn]

Yay!  Thank you Doganjo!

[john and helen]

I can see and understand where you are coming from,
you can make enough from 20 acres, to make a profitable business, there is one guy who makes a living from one acre….it totally depends on your outlook and business skills….most small holders , without being offensive, will not need to run their smallholding as a business, as you will read on many threads, many will have a trust box at the gate selling a few eggs and veg…that is not a business, that is simply making a few bob to pay towards the chicken feed or buy a few more plants

i do agree that the rules of getting planning should be hard, as everyone who could afford land would be buying up and building a house, yet on the other hand, i also believe, if someone is running a good profitable agriculture business, and using the land for farming, then they should at least be in with a shout….

as for the business, why would you sell your produce to butchers, hotels etc etc when you could after obtaining the right paperwork, sell to the public direct… to make the business work, you will need to Brand your own produce..why work hard for others to make the profit from your hard work…

i am not a lover of business plans, simply because they are just predictions….but i guess they could be used to reach targets… just look at the banks and councils, i bet they never planned to pay back millions on PPI loans, or in the case of the councils, have their budgets cut by millions….

if you are going down that route… take time out to think about the business…the Brand name will be key.
and if you need to write a business plan…. take some time out 1st , research how your brand will need to succeed,
think about marketing, advertising, location,

  research research research….