Many farm contractors have too much machinery, according to Klaus Pentzlin, President of the European contractors association and President of the German contractors association.
He was speaking at the recent Farm Contractors of Ireland conference and said that contractors should sell the quality of their work, not their price alone.
Klaus also said he is not in favour of grant aid for machinery investment.
“I don’t like grant support for machinery investment. Many farm contractors have already invested in new
technology systems and providing grand aid to contractors and farmers only reduces the rate that these existing progressive contractors can charge for their services.”
He also urged contractors to work together and to learn from one another. Farm contracting is a profession in Germany and its association has worked to create a state recognised training programme so that only those young people who have completed a three-year training programme can call themselves a contractor.
“We are very proud of our professional status and the political system has taken note of use as a result,” Klaus told the conference.
“I would like to see the EU funding training for young farmers to educate them on how to run their businesses, in understanding how the markets work and on how to work effectively with farm contractors, “ said Klaus Pentzlin. “We have enough iron on every side of agriculture and I don’t think that we need any more.”
He said that the European contractors association has worked on issues of tachographs, sugar beet compensation and ABS braking requirements for tractors, in an effort to keep tractor costs from rising further.
“We have worked to ensure that ABS brakes are only required on tractors rated at more than 50km/hr and removed the need for tachographs on tractors used in agricultural activities,” added Klaus.