How to shop around and get a better price for your grain
2-MINUTE READ
If you’ve ever found yourself taking whatever price your regular merchant offers – just to get the job done – you’re not alone. For most UK arable farmers, getting a fair grain price can feel like more hassle than it’s worth.
The problem isn’t a lack of interest in better prices – it’s a lack of time, transparency and information. Futures markets provide a useful benchmark but they only cover certain crops and don’t reflect local variations in supply, demand or haulage costs.
If you want to get a range of prices, you often have to ring around half a dozen merchants, repeating the same information about your crop and your haulage situation. You spend valuable hours collecting quotes – time that could be better spent managing the business or working on the farm.
Another option is selling through pools. This can ease the burden of marketing grain individually, but it comes with its own limitations. You give up control over the timing of sales and the final price achieved. That lack of flexibility and transparency can make cashflow planning more difficult, and it also removes your opportunity to take advantage of sudden price spikes.
Online selling secures a competitive price
A growing number of farmers are now turning to online grain marketing as a way to bring more speed, transparency and competition into the process.
You can list your grain for sale and receive offers from multiple buyers in one place. You set your own review time, with buyers invited to make offers during the hour beforehand.
This structured, time-bound approach introduces natural competition between buyers – often driving prices higher – while giving sellers full visibility and control over when and how they sell.
Every completed listing on Hectare Trading shows an offer range: the difference between the highest and lowest offers received. This provides a clear, measurable indicator of the benefit of comparing offers.
Average price offer ranges per crop on Hectare Trading for 2025 to date
Our average offer ranges for the year to date highlight the value of this competitive approach:
Feed wheat: average offer range of £5.64/t
Feed barley: average offer range of £8.33/t
Oilseed rape: average offer range of £10.46/t
That’s money that might otherwise be left on the table.
Online selling makes grain marketing faster, fairer and far more efficient, allowing you to capture the real value of your crop without spending hours on the phone.
Let buyers come to you – and let a bit of healthy competition do the rest.
List your grain today and see how much more you can get by shopping around. Remember, with Hectare Trading you also get free access to UK and local grain market insights.
This article is for general information only and is not an instruction to trade. While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the content at the time of publication, Hectare Trading makes no guarantee regarding the data provided.