Note from Matt - October 2023

This month, we welcomed Robert Craig as our new Chairman, taking over from Di Wastenage, with Shropshire dairy farmer Tim Downes voted in as Vice Chair. We are grateful for all the input Di made during her tenure and the strong position she leaves RABDF in. We look forward to working more closely with Robert and Tim and continuing to strengthen the RABDF.

Plans are progressing well for Dairy-Tech 2024 on 7 February at Stoneleigh. Not only does the event offer a chance for business deals to be struck, with almost 300 trade stands already signed up. But it also provides an opportunity for visitors to get up to speed with the latest news and policy and technological advancements in the industry.

I’m sure you have all seen the news this month about Red Tractors’ Greener Farm Commitment and the stir that it has caused in the industry. We like to bring topics like this to the fore and provide a platform where farmers can put forward their questions to be answered by those at the top. Keep posted in future newsletters and online at dairy-tech.uk for all the latest show news.

We recently held our annual Women in Dairy Conference, attracting over 110 members. We had such a variety of speakers, but one of the most poignant was farm animal vet Navaratnam Partheeban (Theeb). He is a co-founder of the British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society and was invited to speak about diversity in the dairy sector.

He explained how agriculture is the least diverse of its type in the UK regarding people, with only 0.8% of Black, Asian or Ethnic Minority backgrounds involved in UK agriculture. It’s a disappointing figure given that 18% of our population belongs to a black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic group. At a time when we are still experiencing labour shortages, isn’t it time we try and connect with ethnic minority groups?

It’s not simple, but it’s a journey we are keen to make straight away by making our industry more inclusive and starting to forge relationships with some of these groups. We hope to progress this soon and will keep you posted.

Encouraging new people into our industry is paramount for its future success. It’s why we run events such as Entrepreneurs in Dairy and also have awards to support young people. We have just launched two student awards ahead of Dairy-Tech for students- the Dairy Student of the Year Award and the Farm Health Management Award. More information can be found on our awards page https://www.rabdf.co.uk/awards. We encourage you to look at our awards page and to nominate and spread the word about these two fantastic awards.

That’s all for now.

Matt