Delays in the sale of storage sites linked to the administration of Alexander Inglis and Sons means it is crucial that Scottish growers give thought to their storage requirements this harvest writes Combinable Crops Committee Chair Willie Thomson.

NFUS is in regular contact with the administrators of Alexander Inglis and Son, and unfortunately, we can report delays to the sales of their storage sites.

We understand that the Swarland site sale will happen shortly and there will be grain storage available there. The Errol site sale is proceeding, and work is being done to make storage available there when the sale goes through. We were expecting these sales to happen last month, so although we remain optimistic that they will be available for harvest we cannot say for certain.

It appears that the wrangling over the sales of the Ormiston and Charlesfield sites is taking a lot longer than expected, and it could be a while before they can be sold.

It was originally expected that, with many interested buyers, all sales would be concluded before harvest, but the administration of this business has not been straight forward, making the sale of these sites more difficult than expected.

We have discussed this with the lead trade body, the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), and its members are working to mitigate the impact of less storage and a potential lorry driver shortage.

But the reality is that storage could well be tight this year and we encourage all growers to do what you can to avoid potential problems, including talking to your grain buyer and contacting Ringlink if you have or need additional storage on-farm – go to: https://www.nfus.org.uk/policy/crops.aspx