Keeping young people in the dairy business

15 November 1999



Keeping young people in the dairy business

AFTER attending two conferences on the state of the dairy industry, I felt
like like the world had ended.

I am only 24 and running a family farm of 180 dairy cows, and at the moment wondering where my future lies.

At the first of the discussions I said that something has to done quickly before there are no young professional people left in the industry.

One remark was that I should send a letter to the MD of the processer. But really I
should be sending my letter to every dairy farmer in the country and telling
them to start talking to their neighbours and start forming larger selling
groups.

The government is not coming to the rescue, nor is placing your
head in the sand going to help. The demise of the dairy sector is
going to increase rapidly and there will be nothing to save as the young
peoply will have left for good.