Wales Farmer 12 DairyCo Welsh Conference CONFERENCE APRIL 2014 Aberystwyth, March 13th


Prepare farm businesses for better times in future


FARMERS are being warned not to over- extend themselves finan- cially as better times beckon for dairy farming


in Wales. Dr David Dobbins, the group


chief executive of United Dairy Farmers, told the DairyCo Welsh Conference at Aberyst- wyth that farmers who did not have a good business model in place would not be able to sus- tain their businesses. Dr Dobbins predicts a big dip


in the milk price next year due to the expected surge in production when milk quotas end. He urged farmers not to over-invest. “Investing a lot of money in a farm is sometimes a good idea,


By Debbie James


but there has to be a good busi- ness plan in place. Farmers who over-extend themselves and don’t have a good business model won’t be able to sustain their businesses through the dips,” he said.


“The long term prospects for


the market are good, but farmers have to be able to service any borrowings.” He advised milk producers to


target higher value products. “Get into products that pay


more and are less price volatile. The best product to be in at the moment is baby food.” Since 1995, milk production in


Wales has grown by 6% com- pared to an 18%fall in England.


This is despite the fact that cow numbers in Wales have fallen. “Farmers are getting more


efficient, the Welsh are leading the league table in cow yields,” said Dr Dobbin. He believed farmers who


adapt to change would be best placed to survive future volatility in the dairy sector. Quoting Charles Darwin, he


said: “‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.’ This is true of dairy farmers. “The dairy industry is going


through a period of change, there are fewer farms and proces- sors but both are bigger and more competitive.”


DAIRY DISCUSSIONS: Dr David Dobbin (second right) with other speakers and DairyCo board members at the DairyCo Welsh Conference.


Energy demand driving up costs


DEMAND from power compa- nies for energy crops is putting pressure on farm input costs, according to a leading dairy research scientist. Dr Dave Roberts, head of


SRUC Dairy Research Centre at Crichton Royal Farm, Dumfries, says the farming sector can’t match the prices the energy industry is willing to pay. “We are seeing this in the price


of sawdust and other bedding materials. The energy firms are taking a lot of wood that we would be taking and they are paying more,”he told the


DairyCo Welsh Conference at Aberystwyth. MrRoberts predicts that com-


petition for land between the agriculture and power sectors would become a big issue mov- ing forward. “In Cumbria and Shropshire


you see vast acreages of maize being grown under plastic and that is not going into livestock feed. It is something I don’t feel very comfortable about butwhen I express concern I am told that 100 years ago a third of the land base was used for growing energy crops such as oats for horses.”


YOUNG SUCCESS: Dairy farmer Matthew Jackson increased his wealth through buying and selling heifer calves. PICTURE: Debbie James.


Farming needs new blood


WELSHfarmers are being urged to draw new blood into agricul- ture by offering new entrants share farming opportunities. DairyCo chairman Tim Ben-


nett (pictured left), who has a share-farming agreement in place on his Carmarthenshire farm, says many farmers who complain about the lack of young people coming into agri- culture are often the ones who are in a position to help.


By Debbie James He entered a share-farming


agreement with a young farmer because none of his own children wanted to farm. He urged others to consider similar options. “If farmers own land and


want to step back from active farming they have got to bemuch more imaginative about what they do with that land,”he told the DairyCo Welsh Conference


For the latest Wales farming news: walesfarmer.co.uk


at Aberystwyth. “A lot of farmers who quit the


sector rent out land but end up with a patchwork of rented parcels when they could be choosing a business model that offers a young person an oppor- tunity to farm.” One man who was given that


chance was 25-year-oldMatthew Jackson. He grew up in Man- chester and his only experience of the countryside was an annual


camping holiday in Wales. He now owns 427 milking


cows and followers thanks to a share-farming agreement he secured on a north Wales dairy farm.


“There is a false perception


that you need to have a lot of money to get into dairying, but there is a doorway into the indus- try for those without large sums of money behind them,”Mr Jackson told the conference.


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