I want to help dairy farmers, new DairyCo chairman tells delegates

I want to all all I can to help the dairy industry react more quickly to good ideas, Gwyn Jones, the new chairman of DairyCo told attendees at the Northern Dairy Conference.

He told the audience: “I know dairy farmers, not for the first time, are facing difficulties which are not of their own making. I fully appreciate that the fluctuating dairy markets and milk prices is creating uncertainty and hardship, leading many farmers to look long and hard at their situation.”

Speaking after the conference Gwyn said: “In my term of office I want to do all I can to help the industry to react more quickly to good ideas and encourage the industry to work more collaboratively to cope better with the difficulties we face, such as market volatility.

“Although DairyCo cannot wave the current problems away, we do have some answers to some problems. We know from our research and contact with farmers across Scotland, England and Wales that those levy payers ’engaged’ most closely through events, R & D projects, discussion groups and other initiatives welcome the contribution we make and farmers tell us the information and experiences shared, helps them progress.

“We can compete for markets across the world and we must use everything available to help us achieve our goal. Of course, there is always more we can do and we will do what we think will be effective.


“We have been actively engaging with the public and this has increased the number of visitors to our thisisdairyfarming.com website. We have a growing amount of people ‘talking’ through Twitter and social media about current dairy issues. Public facing communications are aimed at shoppers and we also have educational programmes targeting young people through teachers that are designed to help everyone understand where milk comes from. We stand behind Red Tractor, the UK’s largest food assurance scheme and promote this and other quality symbols which tell shoppers where the food has been farmed, processed and packed.

“I am discussing with AHDB chairman Peter Kendall, the DairyCo Board and others how the organisation can extract the most value from our consumer work and other, industry focused activity.”