Cereals

The Food Chain Centre, along with the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), is a founding father of the Cereals Industry Forum.  The aim of the Cereals Industry Forum is to improve the efficiency and performance of the cereal chain in a way consistent with a sustainable, internationally competitive UK cereal industry.    

For more information on the work of the Cereals Industry Forum see
http://www.cerealsindustryforum.org.uk/

The Food Chain Centre is leading a project on cereals value chain analysis.  This involves mapping supply chains that use grain, such as bread, beer and animal feed to identify where improvements can be made. 

There will be 8 different chains in this project, each facilitated by experienced teams from Cardiff and Cranfield Business Schools. 

An explanation of value chain analysis along with any case studies that have been completed can be seen by clicking on the ''Cutting Costs - Adding Value in Cereals'' folder below.  The complete folder or each individual section and case study can be downloaded in pdf format from the Download section on the page.  If this is your first visit to the website, you will have to fill in a simple registration form

information & case studies

Case Studies

.: Exploring the market for speciality cooking oils and 'healthy' bread - Coastal Grain (Case Study)

Coastal Grains wanted to use consumer information to help them understand how receptive north-east shoppers would be to 2 new ‘value added’ grain products.

Business areas:	Differentiation	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	North East

.: Benchmarking Through Business Clubs - David Craig (Case Study)

David Craig runs the family’s arable farm on 664 hectares in West Shropshire. He has always understood the importance of detailed costings and the value of making comparisons with others.

Business areas:	Business Clubs	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	West Midlands

.: Overcoming Barriers to Benchmarking - Neil Furniss (Case Study)

Neil Furniss runs a 360 hectare family farm near Newport. He has been benchmarking his farm performance since 1990 through year on year comparison of production data.

Business areas:	Business Clubs	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	West Midlands

.: Benchmarking Through Business Clubs - Sentry Farms (Case Study)

Sentry Farms is an employee owned farming and land management company. They farm some 15,000 hectares throughout the UK including cereals, oils, livestock and dairy.

Business areas:	Business Clubs	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	East Midlands East of England

.: Benchmarking Through An Arable Group (Case Study)

Arthur Hill and Bruce Udale are two of the founding members of the Shropshire Management Group. Arthur is first and foremost an arable farmer, with some livestock enterprises, but has diversified into some non food ventures and is benchmarking on his arable business for the first time. Bruce is a mixed farmer, who has a history of benchmarking through his poultry unit.

Business areas:	Business Clubs	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	West Midlands

Press Releases

.: ‘Farm-Grown’ Branding Can Help to Connect with Consumers (Press Release - Sep 2006)

Research conducted as part of the Cereals Industry Forum (CIF) has demonstrated that branding explaining that Co-op flour is grown on its own farms could considerably increase its impact on consumers.  The latest Value Chain Analysis (VCA) conducted as part of CIF by the Cardiff Business School looked at the production of flour for Co-op retail stores, and involved CPB Twyford, Yara, Farmcare, Whitworths and the Co-op.

Business areas:	Collaboration	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	East of England

.: Animal Feed Chain Benefits from Reduced Transport Costs and Improved Sampling Efficiencies (Press Release - 26 Jun 2006)

A Cereals Industry Forum (CIF) Value Chain Analysis (VCA) has provided key recommendations on how sampling efficiencies can be improved and transport costs reduced along the poultry feed supply chain. The VCA was conducted by Cranfield Business School to look at the efficiency of the chain from the grain farmer and grain merchant, Saxon Agriculture, through to Bernard Matthews.

Business areas:	Collaboration	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	East of England

.: Brewer Improves Efficiency Through Strategic Partnership (Press Release - May 2006)

An industry leading agreement between brewer Coors Brewers Ltd and Frontier Agriculture has been strengthened as a result of a Value Chain Analysis (VCA) organised as part of the Cereals Industry Forum (CIF). The CIF project has enabled Coors and Frontier to improve planning and communication and cut the cost of production.

Business areas:	Collaboration	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	n/a

.: Food Chain Centre takes Farmers to the Dinner Table with New Consumer Guide (Press Release - 04 Jan 2006)

The Food Chain Centre is today (Wednesday 4th January) launching a unique online library of information about shoppers to help farmers. Available at www.foodchaincentre.com, it is the first time that information on how shoppers think and behave has been brought together in one place and presented specifically for farmers.

Business areas:	Differentiation	Sector:	Cereals Fresh Produce Dairy Red Meat Poultry	Region:	n/a

.: Savings Possible in Biscuit Production Chain (Press Release - Oct 2005)

The first Value Chain Analysis (VCA) has been completed as part of the Cereals Industry Forum (CIF), which is funded by the DTI and Defra, and jointly run by Home Grown Cereals Authority and the Food Chain Centre. It has shown that there is considerable scope for improvement in the production process. For instance, almost 50 percent of the grain delivered to millers Heygates either did not meet the allocated delivery slot or the quality specification.

Business areas:	Collaboration	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	n/a

.: Initiative to Encourage More Farmers to Benchmark is a Spectacular Success (Press Release - 24 Nov 2004)

A survey of over 1,200 farmers shows that the number of farmers using benchmarking has almost tripled in the space of two years.

Business areas:	Business Clubs	Sector:	Cereals Fresh Produce Dairy Red Meat Poultry	Region:	n/a

.: One Million Reasons Why Farmers Should Take Notice (Press Release - 14 Sep 2004)

The shopping behaviour of one million shoppers will be shared with farmers to help them identify new opportunities.

Business areas:	Differentiation	Sector:	Cereals Fresh Produce Dairy Red Meat Poultry	Region:	n/a

.: Cereals Industry Forum Awarded £1.4 million to Improve Cereals Chain (Press Release - 29 Sep 2003)

In what is a significant success for the cereals industry, the Cereals Industry Forum has been awarded a major Government grant of £1.4m over the next three years to improve efficiency and competitiveness in the grain chain. The funds will be provided jointly by DTI and Defra.

Business areas:	Collaboration Production Excellence	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	n/a

See Also

.: Product Trends - Fresh Bread

Consumption of bread in the UK.

Business areas:	Differentiation	Sector:	Cereals	Region:	n/a