We've all seen the increase in consumer, media and political interest in British dairy farming systems following the application for a ‘large scale’ unit in Lincolnshire.
While the dairy industry as a whole is working hard to promote a positive image of the sector to consumers and the general public, the media has generally focused on the negative aspects of such plans – often playing on consumer conscience with emotive headlines that suggest a move to ‘factory farming’, poor animal welfare, pollution risks and the end of the British countryside as we know it.
Here at the NFU, we believe that it is important for policy makers, journalists and consumers to have access to factual and unbiased information on the different types of dairy farming systems that exist and understand the motivations for and meaning of ‘large scale’ dairy farming.
To that end, NFU Dairy Board chairman Mansel Raymond has written to MPs across the country to provide the real picture of British dairy farming systems, outlining the potential benefits of large scale dairy farming and attempting to dispel many of the myths that cloud the debate on the issue.
To read the briefing follow the link to the top right of this page.
- Edward Richardson - 22/10/2010
While I see no problem in farming on such a large scale in terms of cow welfare (and in fact in many instances the welfare may indeed be higher than a farmer milking a lot less cows), my concerns on this issue would be two-fold. Firstly a farm of this size must be able to apply economies of scale which will provide the window of opportunity for supermarkets to drive down the price of milk still further, the consequence of this is we will see further developments of herds of this size. Secondly, in areas like Cornwall the basis of large tracts of farmed land is dairying. It's small farms producing milk from grass; there is a family infrastructure, 100,000s of people come to visit Cornwall for the environment created by these small farms. The answer is not large herds on this scale, it's a fair milk price and supermarkets not using the milk price to wage war between themselves on who is cheapest.
- Andrew Hobson - 21/10/2010
In this article you ask for farming to speak with a united voice, but how can we when many farmers fundamentally disagree on your approach in this area? Have you surveyed your thousands of medium and small dairy farming members to see what they think of this proposal to create large scale low cost competition? Have you thought of the impact on public opinion of factory farming milk when we are moving away from battery hens?