For the third year running, the Scottish Dairy Hub and Kite Consultancy are running their seminar and popular question and answer events together at this year’s Agriscot at Ingliston, Edinburgh on November the 20th.
Both organisations have joined forces to put on a single event which will ensure key speakers in the sector will give an insight to the short and long-term outlook, opportunities, and obstacles for Scottish dairy farmers. As in previous years, there will be an opportunity for dairy farmers and stakeholders to bring along their probing questions for the panel and listen to presentations which will empower them with market knowledge.
The panel includes Mairi Gougeon MSP, Minister for Rural Affairs and Natural Environment, Paul Flanagan Strategy Director for Dairy at levy body AHDB, ex banker and now progressive dairy farmer based in Dumfries, Brendan Muldowney, Chris Walkland, independent dairy market analyst and journalist, who together with David Keiley, Kite Consulting’s Scottish based senior consultant, who will present an overview of the present market situation, prospects for the next few months and immediate practical challenges facing Scottish dairy farmers. They’ll also assess what might lie ahead for dairy farming in Scotland over the medium term, from an economic and technical perspective. The event is to be chaired by Alec Ross of Biocell Agri Ltd a well-known stakeholder in the dairy sector in Scotland
Stuart Martin, who manages the Scottish Dairy Hub, explained why it was important to feature such a high-profile panel.
“The Hub’s main role is to answer the questions of dairy farmers and we want to give them an opportunity to ask questions directly to industry figures they may hear about, but don’t have a direct line for. Working with Kite this year will also give us a great opportunity for a greater amount of knowledge exchange from previous events which will ensure a very informative event for farmers”
David Keiley from Kite Consultancy added “There are some very important issues on the horizon for dairy farmers in Scotland and partnering up with the Scottish Dairy Hub gives us a great opportunity to get some key messages across and listen to feedback from the farmers themselves”
As part of the seminar this year, David Keiley and Chris Walkland would like as many farmers as possible to fill in the following survey considering recent announcements relating to the Scottish milk field, and some of the current prices being paid. The results will be presented at the event and will be used to communicate the current mood within the Scottish dairy industry to the general media, politicians and industry influencers. All responses are anonymous, with David and Chris only receiving a summary of the responses. The link to the survey is here.
