Kite Consulting John Allen, Becki Leach

This week Will and Ben are joined by Catherine Paice, the Editor of Dairy Industry Newsletter; Kite Director John Allen and Rory Christie who farms in South West Scotland to discuss the Dairy Industry Newsletter Conference. Catherine outlines what they wanted to address at DIN, specifically in terms of global demand, supply and food security, what steps have already been taken and what needs to be done going forward. John and Rory discuss what they took from the conference and stress the importance of processors better understanding their farmers, especially in terms of sustainability, emphasising the need for processors and retailers to find ways of adding value to milk and feed back in at farm level to create secure supply chains for the future. Along with his usual milk market report, Chris covers the Cheese investment in Northern Ireland and what it means for the industry.

After Chris’ report this week; recorded from the DIN conference & including guest appearance or two, Will and Ben are discussing the Cream Awards with last years Young Farmer category winner; Charlotte West and David Cotton, Chair of the judging panel. Charlotte describes her experience entering the family business and how her decision to focus on and prioritise the farm team helped to create structure & improve understanding, positively impacting not only the team but animal health. David outlines why awards such as the Cream Awards are so important to not only individuals but the wider farm team and how the new categories reflect the changing dairy sector. He discusses with Becki what the judges are looking for, as well as how the judging process works and why Charlotte stood out during this process. Plus a reminder, there’s still time to put in an entry, with the deadline at the end of May.

After Chris’ report this week, Will and Ben are joined by Andrew Jones, a farm owner who entered a contract farming arrangement and Kite consultant Tillie Williams to discuss contract farming. Andrew outlines his experience as a business owner and the circumstances that led him to explore contract farming in the first place, including the process of finding/recruiting someone who would be a good fit for his business and how he manages that relationship now. Tillie explains why business owners may choose to explore this as an option, the benefits to both parties and importance of doing your due diligence, as well as things to focus on to ensure a successful partnership.

Following Chris Walkland’s usual milk market report, Will and Ben are joined by podcast veteran Steve Spencer who is Managing Director of Global Insights at Ever Ag; and Matt Gould who is a Senior Director in Market Analysis at Ever Ag. Steve will be talking about some of the big stories when it comes to US dairy, focussing on the global market. Matt, who is speaking at the DIN conference next month discusses the theme “Dairy annihilation, capitulation, modification or collaboration?” and tells us what he will be talking about. We further discuss bird flu & potential impact on consumer demand and exports and thoughts on billion pound investments in processing to support growing domestic demand of dairy.

This week, Chris is back from holiday with his milk market report and Will and Ben are joined by Karen Bond, Veterinary Advisor with NMR and Nicky Bowden, Senior Consultant with Kite to discuss Johne’s Disease. Nicky outlines why we are still talking about Johne’s and the impact it can have on farm, not just relating to costs, health and welfare, but also on a farms carbon footprint. Karen dispels some of the misconceptions of Johne’s and reflects that while proactive farms are making good progress, there are still challenges around testing and need for this to be regular and consistent. Karen and Nicky discuss how farms can utilise testing data & other tools for decision making on farm, but that we should not underestimate going back to basics of disease control.

Reaching a podcast milestone with episode 200, Ben and Will are joined by Eddie Rixon, a sheep and beef farmer from Oxfordshire and a Land Use Adviser with the Forestry Commission; as well as Emma Turnock, Consultant with Kite to talk about carbon markets. Eddie explains a bit about his own business and how they are utilising natural capital markets for alternative income streams and insetting carbon within their own farm to improve the carbon balance. Emma discusses the potential opportunities for carbon markets, what farmers could be considering, especially for otherwise unprofitable land and what we can learn from the markets elsewhere Europe. They discuss UK wide market regulation and schemes that farmers can benefit from and what opportunities are out there for farmers to ‘inset’ their own carbon, using nature based solutions to help mitigate climate change and manage land to climate goals.