The RABDF’s Women in Dairy Conference saw a stellar line up of speakers take to the stage to discuss how communication is a necessity across all levels of the industry.
Whilst internal communication between teams is key we look in more detail at where the industry sits when it comes to portraying its image to its consumers and the wider public in general.
The webinars saw over 100 delegates join throughout the day and alongside the speaker sessions, Dorset dairy farmer Sophie Gregory, was crowned the new winner of the Dairy Industry Woman of the Year Award by conference principal sponsor HSBC UK.
THE POSITIVE DAIRY STORY
It may seem simple but when it comes to telling the dairy story it really is a case of the cow eating the grass we can’t eat, turning it into food, and producing a diverse and nutritious product that people can use throughout their lives says Susie Stannard, consumer insight manager at AHDB.
She went on to discuss the key challenges and trends the industry has seen from consumers over the past twelve months, highlighting how lifestyle changes impact behaviour.
Life before Covid was seeing an unconscious decline in liquid milk, driven by changing lifestyles which reduced hosts, such as less people having hot drinks which required milk for example, rather than a rejection of dairy itself explained Ms Stannard.
“Fast forward to the pandemic itself and we saw an increase in dairy consumption, with total dairy sales up by 7.6%, and products such as butter and cream doing exceptionally well due to the influx in home baking. The flipside saw a loss when it came to food service with an almost diminished demand for hot drinks out of home sales. Now life has returned to normal we have seen a return to a more standardised pattern when it comes to dairy consumption.”
Attitudes drive dairy decision with the latest data indicating that one in four are thinking about cutting back. It is important as an industry to understand the key reasons behind this so we are able to address these through communication moving forward. Top reasons are environmental concerns, animal welfare concerns, availability of alternatives and health concerns.
“This all reiterates the idea that dairy has become “less healthy” in consumers eyes with 28% of dairy occasions associated with health. Promisingly farmers remain the most trusted part of the supply chain because of their shared values with consumers but the problem here is that farmers are the group within the industry consumers hear from the least.”
Moving forward Ms Stannard suggested there is a real role for farmers to play to increase their communication, and the pathways they use to communicate, with the wider pubic to build more trust and understanding between the two parties.
AHDB data indicates key roles that need improving when it comes to the reputation of dairy primarily sit with health, welfare and the environment. By championing the health benefits of dairy and using USPs such as the role of B12, comparing our welfare standards to those overseas and explaining what environmental practices are in place, we look to be able to start limiting the switch to dairy alternatives through understanding and education.
COW CALF SEPARATION
Animal welfare sits at the heart of what we call being ‘socially acceptable’ which means it is a key component when it comes to public image of our industry according to Dr von Keyserlingk, a research professor from the University of British Columbia.
She said we must remember the general public are a major stakeholder and we, as an industry, must take responsibility when it comes to providing a duty of care to these animals.
The issue of cow-calf separation is one of the most sensitive when it comes to public perception, and whilst she praised the UK for leading the way with this as part of their dairy calf strategy, a lot remains to be done alongside that of the dairy bull calf problem.
By engaging with the public and becoming more transparent we are most likely to make progress, moving away from the idea of ‘educating’ as this is simply not possible. Dr von Keyserlingk continued to say it is integral to remember that, for every one of us there are thousands of others out there who will never visit a farm, which only reiterates why it is impossible to try and educate the wider population.
“From the cow calf separation research that has been carried out to date it is clear to see that when given a variety of scenarios the public do not find the separation between a cow and her calf and early life slaughter as acceptable. The view on this became stronger the younger the age of the calf which tells us not only does calf cow separation matter but we must make it a priority to give calves a purpose whilst at the same time build trust between the sector and the public.
“Even though research to date highlights some of the problems surrounding these issues much more still needs to be done with cow calf separation becoming the number one research topic globally when it comes to finding out more about the effects on calves and the possible solutions we could harbour from it. Our studies highlight that the use of foster cows as a solution is not preferred by the public and needs far more research before being used as an alternative to cow calf separation – the overall feeling is that the public want to see a calf staying with its mother.”
Dr von Keyserlingk has worked on many other research projects and outlined other factors that have an impact on public perception of the industry.
One particular study involved pre and post farm visit research from a group of individuals who were interested in dairy but had never visited a farm. They were asked questions ahead of visiting a dairy unit and then, after the farm tour, were asked the same questions again. Whilst participants were pleased to see a high level of care when it came to the animals they equally had more awareness about the cow calf separation issue. With the tour effecting their answers the trial proves that whilst it was successful in terms of educating it also raised awareness of issues they previously lacked knowledge of – only proving to further highlight the need for more to be done on these matters in the future should we wish to engage effectively with the public to enhance their understanding.
The full schedule of webinars are available to view online at www.womenindairy.co.uk For further information or queries contact emilyegan@rabdf.co.uk