Boston Creamery
Colin Drury, Management and Cost Accounting – Blessed Farm Partnership
Blessed Farm Partnership
Rona O'Brien (Sheffield Hallam University) with Jayne Ducken, Antony Head and Susan Richardson
This case study is taken from Ducker, J., Head, A., McDonnell, B., O'Brien, R. and Richardson, S.
(1998), A Creative Approach to Management Accounting: Case Studies in Management Accounting and Control, Sheffield Hallam University Press, ISBN 086339 791 3.
Introduction
This case study is set in the British Isles, which has experienced major changes in its agricultural sector since the late 1970s. The majority of farming takes place on small to medium sized holdings of
20 to 150 acres where farmers grow cereals, vegetables and food stuffs for farm animals and rear cows, cattle, pigs and poultry. Larger holdings have tended to concentrate on the production of milk with some cereal crops. When the Country joined the European Community (EC) in 1972, new funds flowed into the agricultural sector. For the first time this sector experienced price stability as a result of an EC common agricultural policy (CAP) intervention scheme. Under this scheme, farmers were guaranteed a market for all that they produced. Any products that could not be sold through the normal channels was bought up via the intervention scheme at a guaranteed price.
Land prices increased dramatically as farmers sought to increase the size of their holdings, knowing that their ability to repay loans was enhanced by their new-found stability of income. Farmers began to specialise as grants were awarded for expansion in specific areas. Agricultural products had always been processed and sold through factories and outlets owned by local farms such as agricultural cooperatives. On joining the EC this continued on a greater scale, with co-operatives developing sophisticated processing and marketing methods.
Pig farming benefited from the changes brought about by EC membership. EC grants for capital
Blessed Farm Partnership
Rona O'Brien (Sheffield Hallam University) with Jayne Ducken, Antony Head and Susan Richardson
This case study is taken from Ducker, J., Head, A., McDonnell, B., O'Brien, R. and Richardson, S.
(1998), A Creative Approach to Management Accounting: Case Studies in Management Accounting and Control, Sheffield Hallam University Press, ISBN 086339 791 3.
Introduction
This case study is set in the British Isles, which has experienced major changes in its agricultural sector since the late 1970s. The majority of farming takes place on small to medium sized holdings of
20 to 150 acres where farmers grow cereals, vegetables and food stuffs for farm animals and rear cows, cattle, pigs and poultry. Larger holdings have tended to concentrate on the production of milk with some cereal crops. When the Country joined the European Community (EC) in 1972, new funds flowed into the agricultural sector. For the first time this sector experienced price stability as a result of an EC common agricultural policy (CAP) intervention scheme. Under this scheme, farmers were guaranteed a market for all that they produced. Any products that could not be sold through the normal channels was bought up via the intervention scheme at a guaranteed price.
Land prices increased dramatically as farmers sought to increase the size of their holdings, knowing that their ability to repay loans was enhanced by their new-found stability of income. Farmers began to specialise as grants were awarded for expansion in specific areas. Agricultural products had always been processed and sold through factories and outlets owned by local farms such as agricultural cooperatives. On joining the EC this continued on a greater scale, with co-operatives developing sophisticated processing and marketing methods.
Pig farming benefited from the changes brought about by EC membership. EC grants for capital