Dairying's national strategic plan

THE Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers is to produce a national strategic plan for dairying.

Announcing the decision at the Dairy Event and Livestock Show, RABDF chairman Lyndon Edwards said he could not offer any more detail at present on how it would be used but said it would however, clearly set out the challenges and opportunities for the industry and provide a strategic set of aims and objectives with clear means of implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

The UK was virtually unique in not having such a plan which he hoped would instil a new spirit of optimism in dairy farmers and help arrest the decline in numbers. Furthermore he hoped it would harmonise decisions made by the four constituent parts of the UK and avoid the implications of unilateral approaches on matters such as TB.

The decision to go ahead had been taken after numerous meetings with key industry bodies had failed to agree a consensus and RASBDF had therefore decide to take on the mantle itself. An update will be issued early next year.