Dairy

A portable ‘black box’, which can be used by farmers, vets and semen-processing laboratories to determine the quality of semen within minutes has been developed.

Dairy-Tech once again took place at Stoneleigh Park where visitors were able to view new technology and discuss the issues having an impact on the industry currently. Katie Jones, Ellie Layton, Toby Whatley and Jonathan Wheeler report.

Irish pasteurising equipment manufacturer Unison has launched a modular dairy vending system which includes pasteurising, chilling, intermediate bulk tanks and a customer vending station.

The application window for the Government’s Lump Sum Exit Scheme has now opened to help farmers exit the sector in a ‘managed’ way.

Exclusive contracts that only allow dairy farmers to sell milk to one buyer should be broken up to free up farmers to try direct selling, supplying local food businesses and engaging much more with communities where they live, according to farmers taking part in a workshop at Dairy-Tech.

More than 10,000 levy paying AHDB members have seized the chance to vote on how their money is spent by signing up to the board’s Shape the Future campaign.

Rosie Bennett, 27, is from Honiton, Devon. She is a dairy and poultry farmer’s daughter and works as a manager at an agricultural specialist accountants Evolution ABS Limited.

There is a real danger Red Tractor (RT) could become Defra’s policing body, making the assurance scheme ‘more compulsory than voluntary’, farmers fear. 

Fake meat will not save the planet and risks entrenching domination of food systems by giant ag-corporations, the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES) has warned. 

Processors have announced price rises for May but Kite Consulting have warned another 5-10ppl could be needed if they want to incentivise production