The Profitable Farm: Balancing Business, Nature and Energy through Maximum Sustainable Output

Maximum sustainable output offers increased economic and environmental resilience at both the individual farm and wider industry levels. The Profitable Farm is a pragmatic guide for farmers and other interested parties to maximum sustainable output (MSO) concepts, practices and applications. The Profitable Farm is suitable for farmers seeking greater resilience and increased profitability, academics who need to re-visit the ‘Standard Theory of The Firm’ as it applies to farming, and policy-makers charged with responsibility to secure food-supplies and provide support programmes for the sector. The Profitable Farm provides both the technical background and the practical implications of MSO practices. In particular, it addresses the inescapable realities of energy issues on profitability and environmental damage. Case studies are used throughout to emphasise key points and the appendices will satisfy those wishing to delve further into the technical concepts behind MSO. Unlike most publications on farming, which tend to focus on farming practices, sectoral economics (at a national planning level) or environmental impact issues, The Profitable Farm is essentially about farming as businesses with significant responsibilities to the natural environment and uncompromised animal welfare.

Table of Contents:
Foreword About the authors Abbreviations Introduction Farm accounts Business performance Economic models Energy Natural capital MSO theory MSO in practice MSO for the wider community Addressing the future An outline programme for business development Epilogue Appendices Notes Glossary Further reading & listening Index

About the Author :
Chris Clark is an agriculturally educated, non-generational farmer, who when at agricultural college with his wife-to-be, decided that they would buy a farm before he turned 50. His post-college career, with his wife, included spells farming entirely free-range pigs on an organic arable farm, as a tenant farmer and setting-up a successful management consultancy practice specialising in marketing and graphic design work. He purchased Nethergill, a 170 ha farm set in the magnificently moody landscape of Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire, at 49 and set about turning it into a model of upland farming applying all his considerable management consulting experience. Brian Scanlon is a graduate in mathematics and physics with a post-graduate qualification in operational research. His career started in the steel industry and later embraced management consulting and banking. He had, in parallel, set-up a company which had effected some privatisation projects and flotations on AIM. Farming, to him, was an alien world and he would be 55 before he set foot on a farm. His career had been with major corporations in North America, Europe, and Japan.

Review :
“Agriculture has been waiting for this book for at least a century. In The Profitable Farm, Chris Clark and Brian Scanlon have used original thought and a unique perspective, to apply the fundamental laws of nature and proven economic theory, to the business of farming and its interaction with nature and the environment. The concept of MSO may at first appear challenging, but persevere, and this model brings clarity to the process of primary food production; energy conversion is at its heart and it cannot be divorced from sound farm business management. The implications of the book are profound and of significance worldwide.” – Andrew Hattan PhD, Dairy Farmer and Cheesemaker “For the first time since 1975 UK farmers are facing the very real prospect of farming without government support. Chris Clark and Brian Scanlon encapsulate within this book a pathway forward for farmers towards a profitable and sustainable farm business focused on a deeper understanding of the value of natural resources and sound business decisions. With 80% of farms not currently viable without subsidy now perhaps is the time to re-evaluate your farm business, The Profitable Farm provides the first, fully farmer-focused financial assessment mechanism which will make any farmer who embraces the journey to MSO completely re-evaluate the practical and financial management of their farm.” – Andrew Jamieson - Jamieson and Jamieson Ltd “For those of us trying to work out how to make farming profitable this is important reading. The authors understand that there is a sweet spot in farm management at which profits are maximised and that is not necessarily achieved by maximising outputs. As support payments become more vulnerable, this is an important lesson to learn.” – David Fursdon, Dyson Farming Chair and author of the Report on Protected Sites on Dartmoor “Balancing a business financially is key to success. It is always about careful financial management and stacking layers of revenue that complement each other. Chris and Brian illustrate this so well within The Profitable Farm, showing how to keep control of your costs and inputs to make a business that will be here tomorrow.”  – Tim Parton, Farm Manager, Brewood Park Farm, & Soil Farmer of the Year (2017), Arable Innovator of the Year (2019), Sustainable Farmer of the Year (2019) & Innovation Farmer of the Year (2020) “Nature and profitability are often seen to be in conflict with each other, yet they are closely entwined. Finally, in The Profitable Farm comes solid evidence for how they are dependent on each other, why sustainable farming is essential and why farming doesn’t follow the conventional rules previously established. The concepts in this book combat the current economic instability and biodiversity crisis we are facing as a nation.”– Tara Wright, 4th Generation Exmoor Farmer “A truly thoughtful contribution to the potential future for such a critical aspect of the economy." – Andrew Marsden MStJ, Corporate Strategy Consultant “Thermodynamics? How vital to our lives and yet how easily tossed aside as too difficult or, worse still, irrelevant. This book is important because it describes how ignoring these fundamental laws of physics leads us to economic miscalculation. This means needlessly lower profitability in this most noble profession of growing human sustaining energy – or food as we usually call it.” – Debbie Trebilco PhD FRSC, Scientist and Smallholder “The authors brilliantly pour detailed farm business data, natural assets and landscapes, plus energy and nutrient cycles all into a black box. The emerging calculations – combined with their expertise to deliver a profitable and sustainable approach and based on Maximum Sustainable Output or MSO – are a bit genius. The book helpfully explores the history of farming and why it is in need of a serious reboot and why finances matter in the restoration of nature and vital ecosystems. I particularly liked the farm versus factory section but throughout the book there is rich and detailed graphs, explanations and case studies based on real farms and natural assets. Recommended for all farmers, policymakers and nature advocates.” – Vicki Hird MSc FRES, Strategic Lead on Agriculture at The Wildlife Trusts “Chris Clark has led the way in encouraging upland farmers to evolve their businesses to be more profitable and at the same time deliver more for nature by optimising the livestock carrying capacity of their land. This book encourages farmers and advisors to drill down into their business accounts in a structured way and plan a way forward that improves outcomes for their family, their bank balance and the environment. An important task for us all in these increasingly challenging times.” – Professor Julia Aglionby, University of Cumbria & Commissioner, the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission