Milk producers call for urgent help from AHDB

Dairy farmers say they face being driven out of business without urgent help from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) to ride out the slump in milk prices.

The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) said AHDB Dairy should introduce activities with “immediate effect” to enable levypayers to survive the global downturn. The association made the recommendation in response to a consultation on AHDB Dairy’s proposed three-year business plan. 

RABDF policy director Tim Brigstocke said the association applauded proposals for a small number of high-profile campaigns to target areas of significant importance.

This included a proposed “Calf to Calving” campaign to encourage best practice among producers during the first two years of an animal’s life, said Mr Brigstocke.

But he added: “The current dire economic circumstances in which many dairy farmers find themselves – particularly if they are not on retailer-aligned contracts – is one that should be the key priority.”

See also: Dairy commodity price fall curbs recovery hopes

AHDB Dairy’s intentions for the next 18 months should be focusing on how to “survive” in a global downturn, said Mr Brigstocke.

“Very little in its business plan indicates the harsh reality in which many dairy farmers find themselves. Consequently we have called for a revised suite of AHDB Dairy activities.”

These activities should include looking at areas such as new milk price formulas and particularly the development of a futures market, said Mr Brigstocke.

It should also include promotion of better labelling and more targeted and effective generic milk advertising to support work under the “protecting the image of dairy farming” theme. Mr Brigstocke said AHDB Dairy should revise the amount of money it spends on research and development and knowledge exchange (R&D/KE).

Almost 70% of AHDB Dairy’s total budget had been allocated to R&D/KE, while just 5% had been scheduled for export/trade development and supply chain integration. “Ongoing R&D and appropriate knowledge exchange are clearly vital,” said Mr Brigstocke.

“However, there needs to be a more realistic split between the various activities that are within the overall remit of a levy body.”

Given the precarious situation facing dairy farmers, AHDB Dairy should seize the opportunity to learn from other levy bodies, such as AHDB Pork.

With a budgeted 35% to R&D/KE and almost 50% to export/trade development, AHDB Pork appeared to have a more appropriate breakdown of expenditure, said Mr Brigstocke.

“The pig sector has learned to live with many of the issues now facing dairy and appears to have developed a good and effective industry alignment on the way forward.”