Dairy farmers will get the opportunity to hear about future farming policy and quiz government minsters and experts in a free series of webinars organised by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF).
The Business and Policy Conference, sponsored by Lely, Barclays and ForFarmers, traditionally takes the form of a one-day event, but will this year consist of three bite-sized webinars taking place on November 2, 4 and 6.
The hour-long webinars hosted on Zoom will kick off at 10:30am allowing farmers to complete the morning milking.
Listeners can also put forward questions live to each of the speakers consisting of government officials, industry experts and farmers.
Tim Mordan, deputy director at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Nicolas Saphir, dairy chair at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) will be kicking off the first session on Future Farming Policy.
The second session on November 4 will be focusing on how the UK dairy market will look post January on a domestic front and for exports.
Speakers include MP Victoria Prentis – Under Secretary of State at DEFRA; Dr. Judith Bryans, Chief Executive of Dairy UK; and Simon Tunnicliffe, Head of Field Operations at the Food Standards Agency.
‘Opportunities for UK dairy producers’
The last session will include a panel debate with the previous NMR/RABDF Gold Cup winners looking at the issues, challenges and opportunities for UK dairy producers.
This will be chaired by Oliver McEntyre, Barclays National Agriculture Strategy Director, who will use his extensive knowledge of dairy farming coupled with banking knowledge to help the panel address the current topical issues facing UK dairy producers.
Commenting on the conference, RABDF managing director Matt Knight said:
“This year more than ever it is important for farmers and those within the industry to keep abreast with what is coming down the line with regards to policy and business matters.
Not only have we got Brexit to contend with, we also have the Agriculture Bill going through parliament, a possible reform when it comes to dairy contracts as well as trade uncertainties brought about because of Covid-19.
“The series of webinars is designed for dairy farmers as well as those involved in the dairy industry to keep everyone abreast of the challenges and opportunities ahead,” he said.
