NFU welcomes dairy roadmap launch

NFU Cymru has today welcomed the launch of the Dairy Roadmap for Wales at the Welsh Dairy Event. The Roadmap developed by DairyCo, working with the industry, highlights much of the work already being done by the dairy industry to improve its environmental performance.

The Roadmap sets out short, medium and long term actions for producers, processors and retailers to further reduce the environmental impact of milk and dairy products.

Commenting of the Roadmap, NFU Cymru President Ed Bailey said, "To me the roadmap highlights how much the industry is already doing to reduce its environmental impact and improve performance through schemes like dairy farm assurance and participation in agri environment schemes. The Roadmap sets some ambitious but achievable targets for the industry to reach in the coming years provided the right support and guidance is available.

"Profitability is of course the key to ensuring that dairy farmers can continue to make environmental improvements on their farms and crucially the Roadmap fully recognises that the targets set must not compromise the economic viability of the industry.

"I have to say my one other concern lies with the ability for dairy farmers to be able to enter Glastir from 2012. If this becomes reality then this will impact on our ability not only to achieve targets set for land managed in agri environment schemes but also could affect the achievement of targets for water and energy efficiency reduction which will rely on dairy farmers being able to access grant funding through the ACRES element of Glastir."

In conclusion Mr Bailey said, "The roadmap clearly shows the industry’s commitment to continue to improve its environmental performance, the challenge for us in Wales is to do this without in any way compromising productivity or profitability of primary production."