Meet the NFU Dairy Board

Milk is sold to Arla, with surplus heifers sold at calving.

Michael has held various roles within the NFU, as Worcestershire county chair, West Midlands regional board chair and council delegate. Michael has been on the NFU Dairy Board for eight years, two as vice chair and two as chair. He was re-elected to serve a second term as chair in March 2018. 

Michael believes strongly in farmer collaboration, as well as improving the mechanics of the supply chain and is keen to improve relationships between farmers, processors and end users, whilst continuing to build consumer support for the industry.

The farm runs a herd of 240 pedigree Holsteins and supplies Paynes Dairies. Not from a farming background, Paul worked in the financial sector before meeting his wife, Rachael, and joining the family dairy business.

Paul was on the NFU Dairy Board for two years as an appointee and is enthusiastic about helping to educate people of all ages about dairy farming. He is keen to continue developing relationships with milk processors and other farmer representatives to ensure a joined-up industry approach to future farm policy.

Paul believes a fair and transparent supply chain is critical if dairy farmers are to meet the demands of a quickly changing society.

He also works hard to ensure the dairy sector is represented throughout the supply chain and at government level so dairy farmers can make the most of future opportunities and have a bright and prosperous future.

The cows are milked using robotic milkers installed back in 2010.

Alongside his work with the NFU, Graham is also an Arla area chair and a Tesco representative. Key areas of interest include the promotion of school milk, improving animal health and creating better farmer/processors relationships.

Graham is passionate about educating consumers about food production and the benefits of including dairy in a healthy diet.

The farm runs a herd of 340 Holsteins and Holstein-Swedish Red crosses. The high yielders are kept inside all year round and milked three times a day whilst low yielders go out to graze in the summer. Replacement heifers are reared on farm.

Michael supplies Muller on a liquid contract. Areas of interest include animal health, particularly tackling the bTB situation, and improving the environmental performance of the dairy sector through improving water and soil quality.

John milks 520 Holstein cows three times a day and operates an indoor system to ensure a level milk supply all year round – having found the dry weather conditions and poor quality of grass in that area are not compatible with a grazing system. John employs a number of full time staff to help run the farm and ensure his cows are professionally looked after.

John is passionate about cow welfare and maintaining high health and safety standards for his workers, and wants to ensure future generations of dairy farmers have a viable future.

She has recently completed a BSc Animal Science degree at the University of Nottingham and begins the Genus Graduates Scheme in September 2022.

Jess is keen to promote the agricultural industry to people from a non-farming background and help create routes for new entrants to the industry. She also helps to strengthen the connection between consumers and the countryside.

Jess is also an appointee to the NFU Dairy Board and a 2022 Student and Young Farmer Ambassador.

Gemma has been actively involved in the family farm, from rearing to nutrition and showing, as well as helping to manage the day-to-day health of the herd and developing long-term plans for the future of the business.

She previously worked for Mole Valley Farmers as a dairy inputs specialist and logistics manager, and is a club leader and trustee at Launceston YFC.

Gemma was on the Dairy Crest Direct Forum Board, representing around 100 local dairy farmers.

She is keen to work with the board to ensure the views of dairy farmers are represented over the next few years as decisions are made on where public money should be spent and the future of environmental policy. She is also passionate about working to improve fairness in the supply chain and ensuring the security of British dairying for future generations.

The cows are a mixture of Holstein-Friesians and pedigree Ayrshires.

Ian is interested in improving the environment impact of the industry and has recently embarked on a river fencing scheme to reduce potential erosion and water contamination. The farm has since decided to diversify their water source by investing in a pump to drive water from a nearby watercourse for use on farm in an environmentally friendly and cost effective effort to reduce water costs.

Ian currently sits on the NFU’s Dairy Environmental Issues Group and is also the finance director for Dairy Crest Direct (DCD).

A strong advocate of dairy producer organisations, Ian believes in the importance of farmer cooperation to improve the dairy supply chain and is keen to work with the NFU Dairy Board to promote good farmer-processor relations.

They provide work experience for student vets and have given many young farmers their first job in farming.

He has a BSc (Hons) degree in agriculture from Harper Adams, a Nuffield Scholarship and a Fellowship of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society. Gary and Jess were finalists in The Farmers Weekly dairy farmer of the year in 2019 and winners of the Welsh Big Bale Silage competition in 2021.

Gary has been on NFU Cymru Welsh Council for eight years and represented Monmouthshire at National Council for four years. He also sits on NFU Cymru’s TB forum.

Alongside her family, Amy manages the 600-cow dairy herd on a New Zealand-style grazing and spring calving system. 

As well as her farm role, Amy is also the founder of Pastures Green Communications Ltd, helping rural and agricultural businesses promote themselves and tell their story online. She helps businesses with all areas of their marketing strategy and specialises in social media and influencer marketing within the industry. 

Amy is passionate about communicating a positive message for the dairy industry online and spends much of her time sharing her farming story on social media. She has over 18,000 followers and enjoys communicating the farming story to consumers, next generation farmers and school children.

The milk is produced using no antibiotics for OMSCo’s US premium pool for export as milk fat, powder or cheeses.

Adam has recently been co-opted onto the National dairy board, has been the local NFU group chair as well as having been on the South West dairy board.

Adam has (recently) been a board member of OMSCO as well as a chairman of the membership committee and the Devon membership rep.