The Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) Shortage Occupation List (SOL) ‘call for evidence’, whereby stakeholders were encouraged to submit evidence online in relation to any job titles or occupations believed to be in shortage, is now closed.  The MAC is an independent, non-statutory, non-time limited, non-departmental public body that advises the government on migration issues.

RABDF has expressed grave concerns about Defra’s Clean Air Strategy published this week, particularly the failure to acknowledge the impact productivity and system type can have on emission levels and opportunity to mitigate.

Ever wondered whether milk pasteurised and packed directly at your farm could help avoid the dependency on volatile milk prices currently faced by many farms?  Direct Dairy, a Dutch start-up focusing on Ag-Tech and Food-Tech think their breakthrough concept could do just that.  Talking in more detail at Dairy-Tech on 6 February they will explain how, by cutting out the processor, farms could allow themselves to produce this premium consumer product to a standard where they could sell directly from their farm to businesses and consumers.

At the second RABDF business and policy conference last week the overall consensus from speakers indicated the future, post-Brexit, was looking bright for the dairy sector when compared to its beef and sheep sectors counterparts for example.

The NFU has joined with organisations from across the livestock sector to urge farmers to think carefully about importing animals from areas that are known to be infected with Bluetongue virus.  

Finalists in the 2018 NMR/RABDF Gold Cup competition have been announced and include five Holstein herds and one crossbred herd across Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.

The EN Indy Awards announced Dairy-Tech had been shortlisted for three of its awards after the success of its inaugural event, held in February this year, at Stoneleigh Park.

The final report into migration from the European Economic Area, published last month by Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), has been heavily criticised by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) for letting down the myriad of UK industries which rely on skilled manual EU workers, of which dairy farming is one.