It’s great to be writing on a positive note this month. As we head into spring, there is a lot to be optimistic about. Not only can we look forward to the thought of the bright summer days ahead of us, but there’s also confidence when it comes to the milk markets.

We had a busy start to 2021 with last minute plans being put in place for Dairy-Tech Online and compiling the official event guide, which will appear in this month’s British Dairying.

Uptake for the fortnight-long event has been tremendous with bookings reaching a thousand in the first couple of days of registration. There really is something for everyone with some big industry names kicking off the event including Farming Minister Victoria Prentis and AHDB Chair Nicholas Saphir.

As some may be winding down for Christmas the opposite is true at RABDF with operation Dairy-Tech Online in full swing.

We are in the process of finalising the exciting line-up for the fortnight of activity which kicks off on 3 February and runs until 17th. It is jam packed with some great speakers and topics…

This month we look forward to the Virtual Business and Policy Conference. I would argue there has never been a better time to run this conference with the Agriculture Bill still going through parliament, a no-deal Brexit looming as well as Covid being thrown into the mix.

By the time this newsletter lands in your inbox, we will have held our first virtual conference. The Women in Dairy Conference on Wednesday (30 Sept) was a massive success attracting over 100 delegates, which is in line with the face to face event we have held in the past.

We had a great line-up of speakers and it was fantastic to enjoy some social time in the evening with a glass of wine and the free cheese packs that were supplied by Quicke’s.

Dairy farmer Karen Halton from Cheshire has scooped this year’s prestigious Dairy Industry Woman of the Year award at the virtual Women in Dairy (WID) conference held on 30th September.

Karen is the fourth woman to win the award, sponsored by HSBC UK, beating off stiff competition from two other finalists: Abi Reader from Glamorganshire, and Hannah Lawrence from Haverfordwest.

The last six months have been completely dominated by Covid-19 issues but at last discussions are moving back to Brexit, now less than 12 weeks away and many things are still incredibly unclear. The GB/Northern Ireland issue is still very unresolved whilst if there is No Deal then there will be real implications for dairy trade.

A renowned researcher who has been instrumental in driving forward the genetic development of UK dairy cattle has been awarded the prestigious Princess Royal Award.

Professor Mike Coffey, team leader of the Animal Breeding and Genomics Team at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and head of EGENES, was presented with the award by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal on 14th September 2020.