THE dairy industry needs to improve efficiency throughout if it is to meet current and future economic challenges, according to Reaseheath College principal Meredydd David.

Advocating ‘lean manufacturing’, a process in which costs are driven down remorselessly while quality is maintained, Mr David said that the farmers and processors could use this approach to make vital savings.

But he emphasised that the dairy industry could not afford to overlook the challenges of sustainability, environmental protection and animal welfare, all of which were important to milk buyers, the general public and the government.

In his opening speech at the Reaseheath Dairy Sustainability Conference, held at the Nantwich agricultural college, Mr David told some 200 delegates from the dairy farming and food production chain that their industry was crucial to the rural and national economy.

Accounting for 17% of UK agricultural production, it was the single largest sector with a turnover of £8 billion and employed 80,000 people from field to fridge.

But the return to processors and farmers had been reduced over the past decade, while the share to retailers had massively increased.

Emphasised Mr David: “This scenario, coupled with a backdrop of increasing input costs such as feeds, energy, fertilisers and labour, means that the dairy industry has to be extremely efficient in order to provide sufficient return on capital to enable continued investment.

"This is where lean management can be successfully introduced.

“As a farmer, I know that there is no such thing as the perfect dairy management blue print that we can all follow.

"And I also know that we can make money from a number of different dairy management systems.

"One thing that is common to all profitable dairy farmers, however, is great stockmanship, attention to detail and the ability to look at everything dispassionately – in other words, looking at your business with your business head on.”

The national conference, which is to become an annual event, focussed on defining key areas which are essential for a sustainable milk industry and how all sectors of the dairy food chain should work together.