Grain services

Committed marketing

The Openfield model is based on commitment. Our members increasingly make an annual, early season commitment of a specific tonnage to the business.

This enables our team to go to the market with known quantities of grain and to secure long term contracts with consumers who value security and the continuity of consistent, British-sourced supplies.

Our offerings include:

Pool Marketing
Buy- back Contracts
Oilseed Rape Optimiser
Oilseed Rape and Wheat Tracker
Producers Direct

These are backed by a range of storage options and our Producers Fund which advances cash against committed quantities of grain.

Pool Marketing

`Managing risks and volatility by optimising returns through prudent and professional marketing`

By committing grain into Openfield`s Pool Marketing schemes, growers provide us with a known quality of grain with set movement patterns to take to the market. As a result, we can build upon our relationships and our strength to access markets, collecting premiums based on the quality and location of your grain.

Openfield`s Pool has a minimum commitment of 200 tonnes. This gives growers the flexibility to use both this and other marketing options. Crops are marketed centrally and usually secure above average prices. These are achieved through the negotiation of long term supply agreements, based on sound market information. A structured payment scheme reduces cash flow issues, and bad debt insurance cover ensures that payments are secure.

Signing up couldn`t be easier. Simply phone for a copy of our Producers Guide, agree the commodities and varieties, select your movement period, and leave the rest to us.

Buy- back Contracts

`Providing the grower with a contract premium for top quality grain`

Openfield has a number of closed-loop marketing agreements with a wide range of end users. These guarantee the supply of a specific quantity of grain of agreed specification and at an agreed price. They allow the grower to lock in to minimum contract prices to cover production costs whilst benefiting from any subsequent rise in market prices.

Increasingly, these include the growing of certified seed from our own sources, maintaining tight traceability and a tight audit trail right through the grain chain. Longer term supply contracts are also available for certain commodities for those growers who want to benefit from price stability over a number of years.

Contracts include:

Solstice and Hereward, for Warburtons` market-leading loaves
Group 1 breadmaking wheat through Camgrain, for Sainsbury`s in-store bakeries
Cordiale for a range of flour millers
White wheat Zircon, for use in Weetabix Minis
High quality malting barley for Coors
Vistive rape V1410L, for low trans-fat oils

Oilseed Rape Optimiser

`Move rape into store at harvest, to be marketed at a later date`

By providing guaranteed harvest movement into one of 14 central stores or with one of our strategic commercial storage partners, you can price your crop at a later date. This allows you to secure any carry in the market and at the same time benefit from any drying and cleaning services we offer.

Oilseed Rape and Wheat Tracker

`Using regular sales to track the market and to secure a price that reflects the highs and the lows over an agreed marketing period`

By selling a proportion of committed grain every day over an agreed period, our prices track the highs and lows of the market. Growers can decide to accept an `average` price or can opt to sell more grain when a certain price is triggered.

The Tracker package therefore allows them to manage their pool over the life of the tracked period. This includes the management of wheat and oilseed rape risk in a volatile market, giving protection against rapid price erosion. Each Tracker is exclusive to the grower, who chooses their start date and can elect to close it out at any time. There`s no set up cost and the Tracker is a very effective tool for setting a base price for milling wheat, with premiums payable where appropriate.

Producers Direct

`Helps to reduce cash flow issues on any committed grain marketing product`

Openfield provides independent and impartial advice, designed to maximise grower returns. Through a personal partnership with a designated Farm Business Manager, supported by a nationwide team of market specialists, growers benefit from regular market information.

This regular support and advice over the season is personally tailored to meet individual needs and to reflect individual attitudes to risk. It provides a comprehensive insight into the market, backed by a weekly newsletter. This enables growers to sell ex-farm or ex-store, when and where they want. If you are a grower, all you have to do is to select your preferred movement period, commit an agreed tonnage and variety, and use our services to trigger prices for selling.