My first Council as the new national Dairy Board Chair seemed a good chance to reflect on my first month in the role and to introduce myself properly to Council delegates.
With a new board now firmly in place, I am keen to jump straight into the role. I have an excellent Vice-chair in Rob Davies, a Herefordshire mixed farmer who has previously led on tough areas such as methane mitigation options and slurry management.
I am also pleased I have such a great and varied board, bringing a wealth of experience and backgrounds to the role.
We need farmers on the board who will be willing to bring new ideas to the NFU, challenge one another as required and advocate on behalf of dairy members across England and Wales. I truly believe this board will do that.
The issues we face as a sector really have not changed over the last month. My update to Council largely focused around three key areas:
- dairy markets and input pricing
- NFU activity surrounding government’s proposals to introduce environmental permitting to the dairy sector, and
- supply chain behaviour.
“We continue to work closely with the new Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator and his team to ensure he is aware of non-compliant behaviour or behaviour which is not in the spirit of the regulations and considers they may need to be adapted in the future.”
NFU Dairy Board Chair Ian Harvey on supply chain behaviour
Dairy markets and input pricing
Dairy farmers continue to feel the pressure as prices remain low and input costs rise. We are seeing some factory breakdowns; milk being tipped where it can’t be processed and a “rationalisation” of some milk pools.
While the NFU cannot set market prices or tell milk buyers how to run their factories, we can ensure that dairy farmers are given a fair deal; ensure notices given are the 12 months required by law, ensure there has been effective communication between processors and their suppliers, work to improve transparency when it comes to pricing mechanisms and talk to both farmers and processors about volume management.
In addition, we continue to work closely with the new Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator and his team to ensure he is aware of non-compliant behaviour or behaviour which is not in the spirit of the regulations and considers they may need to be adapted in the future.
EPR
I am confident that the possible extension of environmental permitting to the dairy sector will remain a top priority for the dairy board over the next 2 years. With a consultation on permitting expected this year, the team continue to meet with Ministers, Defra, the EA and other key stakeholders to promote our industry-led solution.
Our dairy survey on permitting is still live, and so far, we have already seen nearly 400 responses. The survey aims to help capture information on current farm practices and identify where the sector may need further support, advice and investment to reduce its footprint, without the need for a permitting regime.
The survey closes on 8 May and I encourage all dairy farmers, NFU members or not, to take 15 minutes to fill it out.
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