As we pass the halfway point of the year it finally feels like we are turning a corner and the lush green grass is on the horizon. Not only are our lives starting to return to the ‘new normal’ as social distancing measure ease, but we are also cautiously optimistic about milk prices with several processors reporting milk price rises in the past couple of weeks.
The weather has also been kind offering the much-needed rain as May was looking quite desperate for some producers particularly down in the south, east, and parts of the southwest.
At Dairy House, the social distancing measures and remote working have not stopped the team pressing on with launching some fantastic initiatives, planning events, offering virtual training as well as supporting the industry through times of need.
I feel we have really shone through in the last few months as the go-to voice of the dairy industry. Our council members have been on the BBC News, ITV news, Sky News to name a few as well as being interviewed for China Today.
Our voice has also been heard in Westminster. We have been instrumental in talks with government and in providing data through our Milk Losses Survey and through letters of concerns and conversations with ministers about the Dairy Hardship Fund, which unfortunately still failed to support farmers having to dump milk and the non-bovine sector.
Asides from COVID-19 matters, we have also been putting our case forward about our concerns over foreign labour restrictions with neither the Migration Advisory Committee accepting there is a shortage of foreign dairy workers or the government classing them as ‘skilled’. This means from next year it will become hard to recruit foreign workers unless things change, and they listen to our concerns.
We have also been trying out new methods of communication and have started recording a monthly podcast. If like me the term podcast is not something you are familiar with it basically is a pre-recorded voice recording discussing topical, funny, and sometimes newsworthy issues i.e. a pre-recorded radio show focussing on a subject area.
Our first one was on the state of the milk markets and our latest one on mental health. We feel the latest podcast on mental health is needed as we want farmers to understand it is okay not to be okay and that there is help there.
COVID-19 may have added severe financial, emotional, and physical strain to dairy farmers lives. The pressures you face such as debt, rural isolation, long working hours, emotional stress, and the inability to escape the place where you both live and work all adding to mental health issues.
In the podcast dairy farmer Peter Hynes from Co Cork talks openly about his ongoing battles. For me listening to the podcast just highlighted how mental health can affect anyone and in a variety of ways. It is an interesting, informative, and an emotional listen so if you have the time do have a listen- it may just offer some help and advice you did not know you needed. You can listen at rabdf.co.uk/the-milk-digest-podcast
As I have alluded to there is a lot of exciting news coming up over the next few months. None of this would be possible without your continued support as a valued member.
We hope that the remainder of 2020 can leave us in a better place and who knows, there may even be a pot of gold at the end of all those rainbows we are seeing.
Take care and all the best,
Matt
Matthew Knight
RABDF Managing Director
Note from Matt
