The AHDB has confirmed it is to close its Farmbench service.
It says the service will remain available to users until 30 September 2026 to complete activity relating to the 2024/25 production year, or to download reports and data.
The decision has been made after a string of poor cereal and oilseed harvests and the resulting restrictions to available budget. With a reduced Cereals & Oilseeds levy, the organisation says hard choices have had to be made. It says it will focus investment on new services that would make benchmarking more widely available.
The Cereals & Oilseeds and Beef & Lamb sectors are investigating options, including running a proof-of-concept trial on a replacement. However, it says this will not be ready for winter 2026/27
The AHDB says it may use aggregated and anonymised data for specific research and analysis purposes. No external access by users, consultants or stakeholders will be possible from 30 September 2026.
Anyone wanting further information or support should contact their regional Farmbench manager.
