Innovative Dairy Farmers Wanted
From Scotland to the Azores, Dairy-4-Future aims to increase the competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of dairy farms through the development of innovative and efficient dairy systems. This is an EU funded project with a consortium of eleven partners from the Atlantic region of Western Europe. The dairy sector in the Atlantic Area is of major economic importance accounting for 20% of European milk production with approximately 80,000 farms, 100,000 farmers, and 70,000 other people employed in dairy related jobs. Dairy-4-Future aims to create a network of innovative dairy farms for countries in the Atlantic coast area including: Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal and the Azores.
The involvement of 10 pilot dairy farms from each region is critical to the success of the project. An initial budget of €2,000 per farm has been allocated for travel for each pilot farmer over the lifetime of the project. This will allow visits to other farms in the network.
The farms needed for inclusion in the Dairy-4-Future project will have to demonstrate:
- Top 10% milk production in the region
- Innovative on-farm systems, these can include robotic milking, calf rearing and novel crops
- A willingness to travel to share knowledge and innovative working practices with other farmers in both their region and the other countries in the network
- Enthusiasm to host farmers visits from the other counties
The project will run for four years from 2018 until the end of 2021.
The outcomes will include the sharing of knowledge of innovative and efficient dairy systems that have a greater sustainability and resistance to any future increase in volatility in milk prices and climatic hazards while preserving natural resources and mitigating climate and better added value. Recommendations for good practices with fact-sheets ready for uptake by farmers, industries, advisors and public authorities.
If you are interested in being a part of this exciting project please contact Paul Hargreaves to discuss further. Paul.Hargreaves@sruc.ac.uk
Tel: 01387 263961
Or download the Pilot Farmer Application From
