Head
Office Press Office - 20-Sep-2006 - A new initiative
to tackle environmental challenges faced by dairy
farmers was launched today (Wednesday 20 September).
The Environmental Plan for Dairy
Farming has been developed in partnership between
the National Farmers Union (NFU), Milk Development
Council (MDC), Dairy UK and Royal Association
of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) and the Environment
Agency.
The plan identifies the main
environmental challenges faced by dairy farmers
in terms of diffuse water pollution, soil quality,
air, climate and habitats. It seeks to address
them by encouraging farmers and their advisers
to take up voluntary measures that can reduce
the environmental impact of dairy farming practices,
and help avoid more statutory controls.
Dairy farmers can make a positive
contribution in protecting our environment by,
for example joining agri-environment schemes,
saving water, managing nutrients efficiently and
complying with environmental legislation. However,
it is recognised that some aspects of dairy farming
such as management of slurry and silage effluent
or autumn harvesting of maize can pose some problems
for the environment if not done properly.
Helen Wakeham, Head of Land
Quality for the Environment Agency said:
"Dairy farmers face many
challenges, not least the struggle to break even
in today’s economic climate. But the environmental
challenges they face, are also very real. The
plan we are launching today is not about imposing
more regulations on dairy farmers, but working
with both farmers and dairy sector organisations
to find effective solutions to manage environmental
risks. We know dairy farmers care about the environment.
We want to provide practical ways to help farmers
protect it."
"This plan will improve
and may solve some of the sector’s environmental
problems. It encourages dairy farmers to use existing
schemes to improve their performance. Its aim
is to make complying with environmental regulation
much easier and hope that it reduces the need
for future regulation."
NFU President, Peter Kendall
"We firmly believe that by proactively tackling
the main environmental issues affecting dairy
farmers and working in partnership with regulators,
we can not only improve the environment but also
demonstrate to Government that voluntary solutions
are preferable to blanket and costly legislation.
We believe that taking up parts of this plan will
help dairy farmers save costs."
He added "Finding the money
to invest in environmental improvement will be
very difficult, against the background of the
rising costs and falling prices that dairy farmers
have endured this year.
That is why it is essential
that our partners in the milk supply chain need
to be working with us to ensure that milk production
is profitable. However important environmental
sustainability may be, we will never achieve it
without financial sustainability for dairy farming
businesses."
The plan focuses on specific
measures that can be easily adopted. These include:
Developing and implementing
a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP). This consists
of assessing the nutrient requirement of each
field and crop and using the right amount of nutrients
according to crop need and soil type. Not only
could a NMP reduce the negative impacts of dairy
farming on water quality and aquatic biodiversity,
it could also help farmers control costs.
Consider participating in an agri-environment
scheme. For example under the Entry Level Stewardship
scheme farmers can receive £30 per hectare
per year for implementing basic environmental
management options, some of which will protect
natural resources without sacrificing dairy farm
productivity.
Providing targeted advice and
guidance through fact sheets and other tools (MDC
farm improvement programmes, energy audits etc.
The plan is available on the Environment Agency
website.
