FAQs

Chichester Grain is fully TASSC assured, the weigh bridge is trade registered and calibrated every six months. All grain stored must be Assured under the ACCS scheme and all Laboratory staff are fully trained and re-trained prior to each harvest.

Commitment at Chichester Grain is an ‘off farm assett’ and should be displayed on farm balance sheets. This asset can be sold to another member or farmer with the approval of the board. The board will where possible match up commitment vendors with commitment buyers.

Chichester Grain is completely owned by its members, each of which owns an equal share. Any profits that are made are either re-invested to improve the efficiency or expand the store or they are repaid to the members as a rebate. Rebates are paid on throughput tonnage.

Members are allowed to be over or under their committed tonnage by 10%. In some years some members are over commited while others are under commited and in this situation these members can be paired up to use up commitment. If a member habitually exceeds 10% over their commitment they will be asked to purchase more commitment and the open market price.

Chichester Grain will accept all cereals up to 20% moisture without prior arrangements (notification of harvesting must be given). In a poor year it is understood that some members will want to cut much wetter than this and this is possible (up to 26%) with prior arrangement. This is to ensure a drier is working on that commodity as you cannot store grain that wet for any length of time.

All commodities that are stored at Chichester Grain must be sold through our marketing partner Frontier Agriculture. The are currently two methods to market your crops, spot marketing or a long pool. This is reviewed each year and if members want a harvest or medium length pool this can be arranged.

Chichester grain accept most varieties of Wheat, Barley, Oats and Oil Seed Rape. However, prior to each harvest/drilling season there is a meeting at the Grainstore where agronomists and traders from Frontier Agriculture advise on the most marketable varieties available. Chichester Grain will also accept some break crops such as Beans and Linseed if there is a large enough commitment from members.

The grainstore is open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm. During very difficult harvests the store may open later to allow members to deliver more in each day.

Most members deliver their crops straight from the field by tractor and trailer. Members further away need somewhere to tip their grain temporarily before we organise Lorries to collect it. We aim to collect all grain within 48 hours of harvesting.

All members must own commitment at Chichester grain to use the facilities. We do offer an initial trial for one year to see if it works for you. After this ‘temporary membership’ you must buy commitment if you wish to continue using the grainstore. This currently costs £85 per tonne and can be purchased outright or you can pay £10 per tonne over ten years.