THIRTY years ago, in 1987, a ground-breaking farmers’ co-operative was born in the Scottish Borders.

Borders Machinery Ring, which was the first machinery ring to be established anywhere on the British Isles, has subsequently grown into a £6million turnover business with over 950 members.

These facts were highlighted in the report given at the recent 30th Anniversary BMR AGM by chairman, Guy Lee.

Speaking at the meeting, at the Buccleuch Arms, St Boswells, Mr Lee stated: “BMR was formed thanks to the ingenuity of Melrose farmer and contractor Alastair Cranston. Alastair had been intrigued by a conference presentation on the subject and subsequently travelled to Germany where there were 260 machinery rings in operation at the time.

“Alastair brought the concept back home to the Borders, where farmers were initially sceptical of the concept, however BMR was established with 23 founder members, and the rest is history!”

BMR manager, Michael Bayne, brought the AGM up to date with an outline of the co-op's performance over the past financial year.

“Membership continues to grow, and the business returned a modest profit on increased throughput. We are settling in well to our new office premises in Earlston which were purchased in 2016, providing a comfortable, modern workplace for staff which is central to the membership. The new building also has excellent meeting and training facilities, meaning most of our training courses can now be held in house,” he said.

Michael also informed members that whilst pooling and sharing of farm machinery was still a core function of BMR, other aspects of the business, including fuel supply, utilities, labour and training provision were now increasingly providing a significant share of BMR turnover.

“Thirty years ago, most of our work involved matching the demands of farmers with for example a broken-down combine, with neighbours who had finished their own harvest and could lend a hand. Although this remains an important core service, we are just as likely to be taking calls from a hotelier, haulier or even a private householder looking to purchase their fuel or other supplies through the Ring and take advantage of our pooled buying power.

“An interesting example of a non-farming member benefitting from their BMR membership is a joiner who recently saved 35% on the purchase price of his new Toyota van thanks to the fleet discount deals we have negotiated directly with Toyota.

“We also had particular interest this year from farmers wishing to take advantage of our harvest time, 4-month fixed price for diesel.”

Programme Manager for DYW in the Borders, Andrea Hall, gave an outline of the progress DYW has made in working within the region's schools to enable teachers, pupils and parents to have a better understanding of the requirements of local employers.

She detailed how the aspirational option, which many young people are often steered towards, is higher education. However, Andrea illustrated the difficulty that many university graduates now face in finding a job, and also pointed out the myriad of Borders employers – including in agriculture and the wider rural sector – who were struggling to recruit new young people into their industries. The meeting was told that DYW has specifically set out to help school pupils and their advisors, particularly teachers, more aware of the potentially highly rewarding job opportunities that are available in the Borders which do not require a degree, and which are often best entered via other pathways such as modern apprenticeships or other vocational training.