Dairy Industry Teams Up To Look At Farmers’ Investment Prospects

Dairy UK and DairyCo have joined forces to present the case for dairy farmers to invest in their businesses at todays Annual Dairy UK Conference in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.

In their first joint report, the two organisations argue that the UKs strong competitive position means that dairy farmers can be confident about their future in a world of growing demand for dairy products if they are running their businesses well and supplying successful and competitive processors.

Investment Prospects for British Dairy Farmers also acknowledges that at the heart of falling UK milk production is a lack of confidence by farmers to invest in their businesses because of uncertainty over future prices and profitability.

With input from both Dairy UK and DairyCo, and drawing on the expert analysis of both organisations, this publication is a very positive sign of co-operation in the dairy sector.

Dairy UK Director General Jim Begg said: I hope we can build on this realistic yet positive assessment of our industry’s future with further work together. We recognise that times are tough for farmers, but in the long run, processors need profitable dairy farmers and market trends look favourable.

DairyCo Director Ken Boyns said: Farmers lack of confidence is combined with a lack of committed and mutually constructive relationships in some supply chains. Those that have already been put in place by some retailers recognise the need for dairy farmers to cover their cost of production which is a great step forward.

Dairy UK is a trade association that represents the interests of dairy farmers, producer co-ops, milk processors and doorstep deliverymen. For more information visit www.dairyUK.org.

DairyCo is a division of the statutory levy board, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

DairyCos current focus is on improving the profitability of dairy farming by focusing on four specific areas:

Provision of high quality market information to help farmers and their representatives make the most of dairy markets and opportunities.Helping dairy farmers increase their profits while meeting regulatory and environmental requirements through the provision of world class research programmes and practical on-farm tools and services Helping promote the positive perception of dairy farming with the general public.The development of DairyCo activities towards a self-sustaining model.

DairyCo is funded entirely by milk producers, via a statutory levy on all milk sold off-farm, at the rate of 0.06p per litre. This provides an annual income of around 6.5m.

Proud of Dairy is a Dairy UK campaign to raise the profile of the dairy industry. Are you Proud of Dairy too? If so, why not support the campaign by clicking onto www.proudofdairy.com where you can find more details.