A case study of a struggling UK dairy farm will be presented to business leaders at a summit in London on 3 November, followed by discussions to generate practical ideas as a response.
The event is being organised by Agrihive, which was set up by Australian beef and sheep farmer James Walker in reaction to the chronic four-year drought currently sweeping northern and eastern parts of his country.
He is working on the summit with Cumbrian dairy farmer Robert Craig, agricultural consultant Heather Wildman from Saviour Associates, accountant Rob Hitch from Dodd and Co, and HSBC’s regional agricultural director for Scotland, Neil Wilson.
Dairy industry needs different attitude to tackling crises
Mr Craig said the dairy industry always dealt with crises in the same way – first looking to drive on-farm efficiency, then searching for someone to blame and finally turning to representative bodies for help.
“Unfortunately, the cycle just continues again and again, resulting in fewer and fewer dairy farms,” he said.
“If we are to stop the terminal decline of the UK dairy industry, we need to try something different.
“Agrihive’s aim is to challenge some of the best business brains from outside of dairy farming to find innovative solutions to our industry problems that will help transform an industry which is in decline to one that is profitable, robust, competitive and valued.”
From drought to dairy – providing hope and ideas
Mr Walker, who’s 8,100ha holding in central Queensland has been destocked for two years because of drought, attracted widespread interest (including from the Australian prime minister) when he invited some of Australia’s biggest business leaders to his farm to hammer out practical ideas for drought-hit farmers.
His Agrihive initiative aims to tackle crises in agriculture by coming up with practical solutions – and also provide hope for struggling farmers.
Mr Walker said he started working on the dairy initiative after coming to the UK and seeing the frustration in the dairy sector.
“When there doesn’t seem to be an answer on the table, you have to come up with your own,” he said.
“We are just trying to stimulate new ways of thinking and attract as many ideas from outside the industry as possible, as the current way of thinking isn’t working. I wonder what Richard Branson or Mahumad Al Fyad would do in the situation of the dairy farmer?
“When it [feels] as if all opportunities are gone, that’s when hope goes – and it can lead to depression,” said Mr Walker.
He hoped the dairy summit would give UK producers “light at the end of the tunnel” and said that Agrihive initiatives in Australia had generated a lot of ideas, created interest and “new levels of hope in the industry”.