WHILST, AGCO ceo Martin Richenhagen was the headline speaker at the AEA Conference held at the Institution of Civil Engineers on Tuesday, writes Chris Biddle, it was the weather that dominated most of the proceedings. From walking across Westminster Bridge in freezing rain on the week that the cricket season opened, to the debate about the weather's impact on our industry, to the biting conditions having a pint with industry glitterai outside the Westminster Arms afterwards, the climate was the main topic of conversation.
Martin Richenhagen gave a entertaining and very corporate speech on behalf of AGCO. Nobody expected him to go off-message but there were several amusing references to chief rival, and former employer, Claas - as well as an indication that AGCO values the strengths of the independent family-owned dealership and that AGCO has no interest into buying into dealerships "unlike my friends at Claas".
Unorthodox weatherman Piers Corbyn came with dozens of information-packed visuals that it was hard to digest all the information they contained. However, he completely rubbished the impact that CO2 has on weather patterns, " . . it represents 0.03% of the atmosphere and only 1% of that is man-made - so carry on driving your 4 x4s!". His claims of successfully forecasting weather events and patterns were persuasive but selective. Even he admitted that weather forecasting never is, and will be, an exact science.
NFU's Phil Bicknell gave a very polished overview of the state of British farming and prospects. Last year, farm incomes rose by 25%, which followed a successful 2011. However, say Bicknell, those gains are likely to be reversed this year due to the weather. Livestock have been lost at a critical time of the year in the snow, and in mid-April only 20% of Spring sowing has been done compared with more than 50% in normal years. However, long-term, Phil Bicknell thought the prospects for UK farming remained positive despite current difficulties. "We are one industry which has no problem in persuading banks to lend to us for future development."
The fourth speaker was Nigel Greenaway of JCB Finance who gave a short but to-the-point paper on current finance, taxation and capital allowance provisions for farmers.
At lunch, Gerald Ratner, who still revels in the holder of "The Most Expensive Gaffe" award gave a very self-deprecating and highly amusing account of his business since his fall from grace following his "it's crap" speech to the Institute of Directors conference over 20 years ago. It was a story of survival, success, failure - and a real insight into the crazy and illogical behaviour of the banking sector, much of which explained why they got themselves into the current mess..
