A new survey of 590 dairy farmers across Britain has shown that they are being forced to think seriously about their future due to concerns over insufficient returns, volatile markets and the scale of on-farm investment.
The survey was carried out by the NFU and found that 9% of producers believed they were likely to stop production by 2025, up from 7% last year. A further 23% said they were unsure if their businesses would continue producing milk beyond 2025.
The impact of government regulations was a concern to 87% of producers, followed by feed prices (84%), energy prices (83%) and cash flow and profitability (80%).
Meanwhile, 91% said that the main barrier to increasing production would be the scale of investment needed for suitable slurry storage. The NFU states that this supports its call for Defra’s Slurry Infrastructure Grant to be extended, and for a drop in the minimum spend threshold.
NFU dairy board chair Michael Oakes said: “It’s clear that significant inflationary pressures combined with below cost of production prices are continuing to put the resilience of British dairy farming businesses under threat. We are now facing a crisis of confidence among Britain’s dairy farmers.
“The results of this survey show that, now more than ever, we need resilient and collaborative dairy supply chains. It’s vital we reverse this trend of boom or bust and invest in our supply chains. New industry-wide regulation on contracts, expected to be introduced later this year, must support fairer, more transparent and accountable supply chains. But regulation isn’t a silver bullet.
“With increasing global demand for British dairy, we know that the long-term future is bright for our sector. To ensure we maximise this potential, it’s imperative that government continues to work with us to ensure we have the right environmental, regulatory and trade framework in place to support the production of high quality, nutritious and sustainable food.”
