Narcissus and Daffodil

134 J.B. Briggs
Table 5.3 Actual gross margins from two Narcissus growers
Grower 1
(£/ha)
Notes
a Grower 1, no figure given for hot-water treatment, so a typical figure for
treatment without thiabendazole has been used for comparability.
b Grower 2, no figure given for bulb drying, so a typical figure has been used.
For Grower 1, the figures used are based on 1993, and, for Grower 2, 1995. The
bulb yields for Grower 2 are particularly low, but 1995 was a dry year when bulb
yield was severely reduced where irrigation was not available. It is obvious that both
of these growers are operating under a lower input of pesticides than the one previously
described, particularly in terms of using fungicide in hot-water treatment.
However, more intensive systems to guarantee crop quality, particularly for control
of basal rot, are becoming necessary, and the typical gross margin figures given
above are based on such a system. The actual gross margins achieved in these
examples were £2422 and £2195 per ha per annum, respectively.
THE RELATIVE PROFITABILITY OF NARCISSUS GROWING
Arable farming, either of combinable crops or mixed cropping, is currently
carried out in most of the geographic areas suited to narcissus growing. The 1999
gross margins of the most common crops are given below, expressed as £/ha:
Winter wheat (feed)* 530 ± 100
Winter wheat (milling)* 600 ± 100
Winter oilseed rape* 450 ± 100
Winter barley (feed)* 480 ± 100
Spring barley (malting)* 460 ± 100
Winter beans* 450 ± 100
Linseed* 400 ± 100
Maincrop potatoes 2000 ± 1000
Sugar beet 900 ± 500
Bulb onions (spring-sown sets) 2090 ± 1500
Summer/autumn cauliflower 1800 ± 1300
Grower 2
(£/ha)
Output
Bulbs sold 5910 3770
Bulbs re-planted 3087 4848
8997 8618
Bulbs 3087 3158
Hot-water treatment 371 a
440
Fertilisers 114 79
Crop sprays 408 361
Drying 173 190 b
4153 4228
Gross margin (£/ha) 4844 4390
Gross margin per year (£/ha) 2422 2195