Orion Farming Monthly Newsletter August 2025

Orion Farming Group
Jul 24
7 min read

Click on any of the adverts in this newsletter to get more information

Orion August Update

Orion Farming Board Changes

Orion Farming has a new Chair. Nick Philps has stepped down after 3 years of service He will remain an active member on the Board. Becci Berry was unanimously voted in as chair by the Board and Juliet Frost was unanimously voted as Vice Chair.

All the Board are very grateful to Nick for has supportive and dedicated Chairmanship over the years and we look forward to working with and supporting Becci.

Becci who has been a Borad member since May 2023 says she is looking forward to working with the General Manager and the Board, to deliver both stability and growth to the ever-changing needs of Orion Farming and its members.

Our Chair at Groundswell

Becci contributed to a a well-attended panel discussion at Groundswell in July. The discussion covered global research in windbreak and shelterbelt technology. Becci shared shelter belt establishment experience on her own farm and how it effects microclimate, soil humidity, temperature and the benefits for livestock.

Arable desk news

Seed – new and group 1 wheat varieties are in short supply. Some suppliers are already selling out. If you are looking for something specific, please give me a call.
Fertiliser – I have pricing for Sept-Dec delivery now, but many suppliers are reluctant to price ahead of this. Whilst Nitrogen prices have stabilised in the last 2 weeks the market remains tight and volatile. There seem to be no indications at this stage for price reductions.
Crop Chemicals – now looking ahead to autumn herbicide product price and availability. Shelley and I are having various meetings to find the best deals and products.

Electricity

Orion have been successfully managing electricity supply contracts for members for over a year. A number of members are saving money on previous contracts, but more importantly are finding it easier and simpler to manage meters and invoices. Orion are now in the position to add more members to this service. If you would like to see if we can save money and make life easier with your electricity supply please get in touch for a quote. At this stage, we have limited contract numbers so supply will need to be on a first come first served basis.

Building Supplies

I would like to highlight Travis Perkins as a top supplier. At a recent price review meeting they highlighted that in addition to all building supplies they also supply Solar & Renewable inputs, skips, muck away services, tool hire as well as Benchmarx Kitchens! Definitely worth trying them for any projects you have on the go.

For any information on any of the above, please get in touch with me.

Stuart Goodinson, Orion General Manager

Cefetra Market Summary

Late July 2025

Although currently halted by widespread thunderstorms and heavy rain showers, harvest has progressed quickly this season, having started exceptionally early in many regions. Yields are a mixed bag as expected, greatly affected by soil type and spring rainfall, the latter of which was lacking throughout the middle of the country but sufficient in the South, East and North. Subsequently, we have heard some very impressive and, in some cases, record breaking winter barley yields from those areas. Likewise, with OSR, which seems to have done well in most areas overall thanks to the crop having a large tap root and less flea beetle pressure this season. Early wheat samples are again variable but the main theme we are noticing in the poor yielding areas is high protein. In the higher yielding regions already mentioned, yields and protein are closer to average.

Markets have seen a slight uptick in recent days, but the fundamentals remain unchanged. EU wheat supply continues to look heavy for the season ahead and ending stocks may end up being the highest we have seen for circa 20 years. Corn is starting to look tighter in the EU with the recent heat and dryness we have seen, but on the flipside of this, Brazil is looking at a big crop and the US is potentially going to be a record.

Funds remain record short on MATIF wheat futures contracts, which means that upside volatility is still very much a possibility – we just need a bullish story to trigger some short covering. However, with global supply looking heavy as discussed above, where would the story come from? China could be a potential, having faced some extreme heat and dryness in a few key Corn growing areas. It’s always tricky to know with China though and I suspect we would only find out through an increase in imports later in the season.

Farmer retention has resulted in spot wheat cash values firming in the Black Sea region. Almost every farmer in the world is struggling with these grain values vs. increasing input costs, meaning most are holding on as long as they can in the hope of better values in the future. This usually results in temporarily higher values and could cause some short-term spikes – I would suggest they are not to be missed! Slow Brazilian harvest pace (vs trade expectation) has also resulted in a firmer spot cash market in Corn, we expect this to be short lived with a big South American crop expected once harvest pace picks up and exports increase.

We can also expect some volatility either way with new trade deals be confirmed and more expected between now and early August. The deal between the UK and US has obviously caused some controversy, with the lifting of US ethanol tariffs potentially disrupting UK ethanol production, which would negatively affect UK wheat demand. As more countries commit to buying US agricultural products, we can expect to see some support for CBOT values. The big story that could help global values would be a deal between the US and China. China have been one of the key reasons that demand and global exports have been so poor these past 12 months, a change to that narrative may help us!

Josef Grinczer, Senior Farm Grain Buyer & Committed Grains Assistant Manager, 07712 325197

Supplier Promotions during July

Orion Members can use the Orion App to see all the latest Supplier Promotions.

Watling JCB have posted promotions for discounts to Orion Members on numerous products including filters and lubricants.

TVE have posted details of the new R-2 Series of 1-2tonne excavators, coming in September 2025.

Important update regarding compound feed

For many years the compound feed tender has been awarded on an annual basis. An invitation to quote for manufacturing and delivery costs only, is sent to the compounders in January, a decision is made in March and the successful company will then have until the end of August to build a raw material book and to put down cover for the new tender year which starts at the beginning of September. However, this does have its limitations and may no longer be the most advantageous system with which to work.

At the end of 2024, the Feed and Livestock committee was approached by GLW with a different proposal, namely to supply the Group’s compound feed on a continuous, rather than on an annual basis. The primary reason for this is that any business such as theirs would not know until the March whether they would have all, some, or none of the Orion compound feed business for the coming year. That means that raw materials cannot start to be covered until the tender result is known. The committee realised that there have been instances over the years when the best raw material prices for the tender period have not been available during the April to August period. The result being that even with a competitive on-cost, diet prices for members may still be more expensive than necessary.

This proposal was discussed by the committee at subsequent meetings and in addition met members of another buying group who are also successfully working with this approach, at GLW’s mill to get feedback from them. As a result of these meetings a decision to accept GLW’s proposal was agreed by the committee in April and was ratified by the board at a recent meeting.

This obviously is enormously reliant on a great deal of trust and without trust and the transparency that verifies it, the system wouldn’t work. With the trust that has built up over the years between GLW Feeds and the Orion members, the committee is confident that the new system can work very well. GLW have also undertaken to provide figures to justify their manufacture and delivery charges and have offered that any future requested changes to these figures would be agreed by the Orion feed committee before being implemented.

This also gives me a good opportunity to remind members that the Feed & Livestock committee meet every 4 months. All contracts, agreements and services delivered by the Group are under constant review by them on your behalf. Therefore I want to point out that should you have any feedback on the service and quality received, it is of upmost importance for the Group that you keep us informed so we can act accordingly in all our members best interests and continue to deliver the level of service on which Orion prides itself.

Weekly Straights Update

The Weekly Straights Update, plotting the prices of core straights products has been a regular feature sent out to members for many years and over time it has been developed and improved to give a much more accurate representation of the fluctuation in prices. It’s easy to navigate and the graphs and spreadsheets are clear and precise. Finally, as an added bonus you’ll receive the ‘totally irrelevant but quite interesting facts’ on a weekly rather than a monthly basis!! If you’d like to receive the update, please contact the office and your email address will be added to the distribution list.