Farm diversification options in Herefordshire

We advised a mixed livestock and arable farm in Herefordshire on how to diversify into producing and selling homemade apple juice locally.

Background

Peter and his father Steve farm a 420 acre mixed beef and arable enterprise in Herefordshire. They also have an existing orchard on-farm and had been pressing small quantities to make apple juice.

Peter and Steve were interested in finding out whether they could make more juice and sell it locally. They approached ADAS for advice about diversifying their operations, and for help with finding funding options.

Actions

On behalf of Peter and Steve, ADAS agribusiness consultants:

Undertook an appraisal of the existing business to understand its strengths and weaknesses.
Benchmarked the existing enterprises against other farmers in the area.
Developed a business plan to support a bank loan application to fund the project.
Identified appropriate grant routes.
Made a grant application on their behalf.

Results

After working with ADAS and securing the finance needed, Peter and Steve decided to buy a small commercial press, selling initially to local businesses.

Since launching their still, cloudy apple juice, demand has been so great that they are now purchasing apples to keep up. They then worked with ADAS again to find options to fund a second machine.

ADAS agribusiness consultants also involved our in-house livestock consultants to advise on nutrition planning for their beef cattle so that they can use the apple by-product to reduce feed costs.