Blog: It’s a marathon not a sprint

Dairy strategy director Paul Flanagan shares his thoughts on the long-term challenges facing the dairy industry and how AHDB can play its part.

As I write this, I’m well into training for my first ever marathon at the beginning of April. I’ve always been a keen runner, but this a particularly tough challenge which has been pushing me to my limits.

Fortunately, the timing coincided with Run 1000 during January. I was able to combine doing something positively for my mental health and raise much needed funds for farming charities.

It’s initiatives like this that bring out the best from the agricultural family, working together to address issues, focusing on a common goal with everybody playing their role and doing what they can.

For me, this echoes the challenges we’re facing as an industry. Whether that’s the exponential rise in input costs or fragmented labour market, the loss of direct payments, environmental concerns or the rise in the plant-based agenda and continual challenges around our reputation.

The list is not a short one, but what I’ve learnt during my 20-odd years in the industry is that we’re all committed to the industry’s long-term prosperity and can work together to adapt and overcome to make the most of opportunities too.

AHDB must and can play its part, but it cannot solve all these problems alone. Our We Eat Balanced campaign has been prominent on TV, in supermarkets, newspapers and online over the last couple of months.

It delivers a clear message about the role of dairy and meat in a balanced diet, targeting those consumers who might be considering reducing their consumption. We’re supported by a group of farmers who are helping to tell the fantastic story of British farming across social media.

We’re also fighting hard against misleading claims and work with industry stakeholders to challenge misinformation in the press, social media, and advertising with notable successes with the BBC, The Times and Oatly.

The fate of bull calves has long been an area that needed addressing and regularly invites criticism so it’s great to see the launch of GB Dairy Calf Strategy. Alongside the NFU and with the support of over 40 organisations across the supply chain a commitment has been secured to rear all calves with care and eliminate the practice of euthanasia of calves by 2023.

Right now, and for the foreseeable future the environment will be squarely on the agenda. To coincide with COP26 we jointly launched the Dairy Roadmap Climate Ambition with the NFU and Dairy UK. It sets out the dairy industry’s support for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting global warming.

We start from a good position as the emissions from British milk are less than half of the global average, but there is much more to do. Farmers are doing their bit by looking at their own businesses and we can help them with initiatives such as the development of EnviroCow, our genetic index to breed more environmentally friendly cows

Monitoring progress, spotting and anticipating trends is crucial, whether that’s consumer behaviour and sentiment or movements in farmgate prices or production. This relies upon timely, reliable data and analysis.

For me this was brought home during the first Covid lockdown when the closure of foodservice outlets and the spring flush peak, causing processor capacity issues and leading many farmers to pour milk away.

Our market intelligence teams provided crucial information that led to the relaxation of competition rules meaning that processors could work collectively to utilise spare capacity. Defra relied upon our data to develop the Dairy Response Fund in England to support the most affected farmers.

The common thread across all of these areas is working together. Responding quickly when we need to while also planning for the longer term

And we’re not standing still at AHDB. You’ll have read about our updated structure and governance, led by a new chairman and CEO. Sector councils have replaced the old boards, taking more responsibility for the direction of our work.

The changes are designed to put levy payers at the heart of the organisation. And while I can assure you that’s always been the case, the new councils formalise the process and offer reassurance that decisions are made with their best interests in mind.

Quite rightly, dairy farmers themselves are the predominant voice on the council bringing their own experience and views to the table. They are responsible for acting in the best interests of levy payers, but they need your help.

In April this year, dairy levy payers will be able to ‘Shape the Future’ by letting them know the biggest challenges facing the industry how they’d like to see their levy invested.

Whatever’s important to you, this is your chance to influence what AHDB focuses on over the next five years. I’d strongly encourage you to register before 31 March to have your say.

Throughout my marathon preparations, it’d be remiss of me not to seek the advice and counsel of others to guide my approach. I’m confident I’d still reach the finish without it, but by listening to others and heeding their advice, I know I’ll reach the finish in good shape and most importantly enjoy the journey along the way.