Barclays survey suggest dairy farmers intend to expand

More than half of dairy farmers intend to expand their businesses in the next 12 months, new figures from Barclays Bank suggest.

In a snap survey at last week’s Dairy Event at Stoneleigh, the bank questioned 70 farmers producing 350,000-1.5m litres a year. Nearly two-thirds told the bank they would raise production.

Barclays’ agricultural policy director, Euryn Jones, said the intention to boost production was mainly among those already over 1m litres.

“I think it represents the mood at the Dairy Event. Of those producing under 1m litres a year, only one-third said they intended to expand”.

“The majority told us they would expand their businesses by about 15%, which suggests this trend is relatively cautious. People are pushing the edges of their existing capacity rather than making major investment, although a handful said they were prepared to go to 30%.”

The survey also revealed nearly 60% of farmers included the SFP when assessing the viability of their dairy businesses, Mr Jones added.

August’s Milk Price Review includes 12 price cuts. Wiseman Dairies reduced payment by 0.9p/litre, and First Milk, Meadow Foods and Caledonian Cheese by 0.75p/litre.

Dairy Crest cut its Manufacturing Agreement by 0.74p/litre, Wyke Farms cut by 0.66p/litre, while Joseph Heler and Golden Vale cut by 0.65p/litre.

Glanbia reduced its Llangefni contract by 0.55p/litre, Graham’s Dairies reduced by 0.5p/litre, with Westbury Dairies cutting by 0.48p/litre and Dansco by 0.20p/litre. All other changes reflect changes in seasonality payments.

See our exclusive footage from last week’s Dairy Event