What is the NFU asking the Government for?

The NFU has made the call in a new export strategy in which it identified a raft of actions and recommendations that it said would enhance the industry’s export performance and add value through selling more British dairy products abroad.

The strategy called for Government investment, in partnership with the industry, to drive dairy exports through trade deals, agriculture counsellors, and market development. It also suggested that the Government and industry collaborate to form a new Dairy Export Taskforce to focus on dairy exports. It also wanted to encourage investment in domestic processing capacity to take advantage of new markets.

To help double the value of dairy exports the strategy also called for there to be a stable regulatory environment for dairy farmers and it wanted an increased focus to build on existing work by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and Red Tractor on dairy exports and market development.

Ambitious and innovative

“The British dairy industry is an ambitious and innovative one, producing food such as milk, cheese, yogurt, & butter to some of the world’s highest animal welfare and environmental standards,”​ said NFU dairy board chairman Michael Oakes. 

“We have developed a fantastic reputation around the world for quality and already export over £1.6bn worth of dairy products to more than 135 countries across Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.”

He said that following a spell of uncertainty for dairy farmers which have faced market volatility with the country’s exit from the EU, and the Covid-19 pandemic, “the time is right to take a fresh look at our exporting opportunities.” 

Source: foodmanufacture.co.uk