New recruits to our strategic farm team
Our strategic dairy farm network is going from strength to strength with the announcement we have secured funding from the Betty Lawes Foundation to recruit a further eight farms.
The foundation is the charitable trust set up by Betty Lawes, the wife of Dick Lawes who was the founder of Volac.
Along with the nine farms recruited by AHDB and a further eight in Wales as part of the Dairy Improvement Programme funded through the Welsh Government Rural Communities Rural Development Programme, it means the network will grow to a total of 25 farms spread across Great Britain.
With a larger spread of farms across Great Britain it will mean we can better showcase excellence across the industry and more farmers will be able to access the benefits that strategic dairy farms offer.
This further expansion is a core part of the dairy productivity collaboration established in 2018 as an industry-government partnership. It works to identify opportunities and barriers to deploy practical strategies for the benefit of the industry.
Each of the farms will follow AHDB’s optimal dairy systems approach, and represent either all-year-round or block calving systems. They will showcase best practice, host on-farm events and each farm will openly share their figures against AHDB Dairy’s key performance indicators.
By being part of the strategic farm network, farmers will benefit from access to industry experts to help fine tune their business.
Sharing financial information will help farmers improve business-making decisions and boost technical performance, profit and long-term sustainability. On-farm events will bring like-minded farmers to their farm who can act as a sounding board for new ideas or to challenge what they are currently doing.
Strategic farms also have access to industry experts who can offer bespoke advice to help them identify areas of improvement.
One of our strategic farmers, Michael Ball, in Derbyshire, said: “We have been a strategic dairy farm since summer 2018. We joined the network to help us in our aim to become one of the most efficient dairy farmers around.
"During our time in the network we have benefited from expert advice from consultants we have had on-farm for our meetings, as well as the farmers who have come along with ideas about what we should or shouldn’t be doing. We have also found being part of the network focuses us on what we are trying to achieve in our business.”
We are now recruiting for the next farms to join us in our mission to help build a stronger dairy industry. You can find out more about our current strategic farms, as well how to apply to become one, by visiting dairy.ahdb.org.uk/technical-information/strategic-dairy-farms.
Jon Parry is AHDB head of knowledge exchange, dairy
