Dairy scientists are to review future R&D and knowledge transfer requirements within the sector to meet with industry demand as well as growing interest in environment, consumer and animal welfare issues associated with dairy farming.
The strategic review was agreed by the Dairy Science Forum after meeting with representatives from Government and across the UK dairy chain supported by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, DairyCo, the National Farmers Union and The Farmers Club.
“I believe that it is essential to draw both Government and industry’s attention to the current gaps in the UK’s dairy research and scientific knowledge transfer bases and subsequently highlight areas requiring action if we are to improve sustainability of the UK dairy farming industry,” said Dairy Science Forum chairman, Professor Wynne Jones. “This review is designed to do just that.”
Dr Sinclair Mayne, from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland argued: “For UK dairy farming to be competitive, then we need to achieve a better balance of basic and applied research, with more emphasis on applied research. We need more effective coordination of UK and EU funded dairy research, with greater emphasis on knowledge transfer of research results to dairy farmers. As for the funding, I believe that both retailers and milk processors should make a much greater contribution towards dairy related R&D than at present.”
David Garwes, former head of Defra’s livestock science unit described how the dairy farming sector’s R&D objectives had changed over the years from maximising efficient production, to increasing sustainability and more recently reducing environmental impact carbon footprints whilst maintaining food security. “We have seen a huge shift in emphasis however to increasing food production using less inputs with low emissions,” he said. “Furthermore, as the world population grows in both number and affluence, global demand for animal protein is rising faster than any other food category,” added the Technology Strategy Board’s David Alvis.
DairyCo’s Dr Duncan Pullar highlighted the benefit in knowledge transfer achieved from linking farming, veterinary and support sectors. “All stakeholders have an important part to play, however there is a need to sort out their roles and responsibilities.”
Further information from the Dairy Science Forum’s John Sumner on 01694 724678 sumner_john1@sky.com