Note from Matt
At the end of last month, we submitted some evidence to the Efra Committee asking about the labour shortage in the dairy industry. It is a topic we have been banging the drum about for years, with our first survey to understand the scale of the problem conducted in 2014. We have since run three further surveys. Each survey has indicated the labour issue on dairy farms is getting worse.
We knew Brexit would have repercussions for the industry. Without success, we have tried countless times to get dairy workers listed on the Migration Advisory Council's (MAC) Shortage Occupation List.
The Government is now looking into the issue with more sectors being affected. We are more hopeful the Efra Committee will listen to our concerns compared to the MAC. We will keep you posted.
Access to skilled foreign workers is vital for our industry. However, we cannot shy away from the fact we all need to take responsibility to try and solve the problem. However, that's not going to be an easy process and won't be solved overnight, which is why we need support from these EU workers until a solution is found.
Someone shared an observation with me recently about how the labour problem seems to impact farmers less in West Wales. He explained there seems to be more of a community approach whereby the dairy unit is milking the cows, youngstock are contract reared on other farms and contractors are brought in to help with silage making, harvest etc. Whilst I appreciate this wouldn't work in peri-urban environments, it is an interesting concept and one that is perhaps worth looking at.
As this newsletter hits your inbox, the climate change conference, COP26, is taking place. As I mentioned in last month's Milk Digest, we would urge you to spread the positive facts about emissions from the dairy industry, which you can find at www.rabdf.co.uk/emissions and below. In next month's newsletter, I am sure I will have lots to talk about, including how agriculture faired. Hopefully, we will come out of it relatively unscathed.
That's all for now.
Best wishes,
Matt