A group of 32 final year Extended Diploma students from CAFRE recently visited Moore Concrete Products Ltd. The purpose of the visit was to see at first hand how businesses operating in the manufacturing and supply sectors feed into production agriculture.

The visit comprised a detailed presentation on the Ballymena company’s manufacturing activities and a guided tour of Moore’s production facility.

Moore Concrete manufactures a range of precast products for the UK’s building, civil engineering and farming sectors. Agriculture has, traditionally, been one of the company’s largest target markets.

Commenting on the visit, Moore Concrete sales manager Richard Whiteside said that it provided the visiting students with an opportunity to gauge how a commercial manufacturing company goes about its business.

“Agriculture has been a core supply outlet for Moore Concrete since the very inception of the company.

“It was a pleasure to host the visiting students. They represent the next generation of farmers here in Northern Ireland.”

Richard continued:

“We all recognise the pressure on farm gate returns at the present time. However, it was very refreshing to hear the positive views expressed by the students, regarding the future of their industry.”

“At Moore Concrete, we fully recognise that farming is very cyclical in nature. We are also very aware that farmers must have the wherewithal to invest in the future of their businesses – and that means producers being in a position to make realistic profits.”