Rising number of dairy farmers set to stop producing milk, survey finds

A new survey by the NFU has revealed that 9% of producers believe they are likely to stop producing milk by 2025 – an increase of 7% compared to last year.

Another 23% said they were “unsure” if their business would continue producing milk beyond 2025.

Meanwhile, 87% of the nearly 600 dairy farmers who responded said they are concerned about the impact of government regulation. Feed prices, energy prices and cash flow and profitability were also cited as key factors that will curtail milk supplies.

The majority of dairy farmers (91%) said the main barrier to increasing milk production would be the scale of investment needed – for example for suitable slurry storage to ensure their farms are compliant.

The NFU has previously called for Defra’s Slurry Infrastructure Grant to be extended to cover more areas and to lower the minimum spend threshold needed to access the funding.

NFU dairy board chair Michael Oakes said: “It’s clear that significant inflationary pressures combined with below cost of production prices are continuing to put the resilience of British dairy farming businesses under threat. We are now facing a crisis of confidence among Britain’s dairy farmers.”

He stressed the importance of resilient and collaborative dairy supply chains – and reversing the “trend of boom or bust”.

Whilst new industry-wide regulation on contracts is expected to be introduced later this year, regulation is not a silver bullet, he added.

“With increasing global demand for British dairy, we know that the long-term future is bright for our sector. To ensure we maximise this potential, it’s imperative that government continues to work with us to ensure we have the right environmental, regulatory and trade framework in place to support the production of high quality, nutritious and sustainable food.”