Are you a progressive dairy farmer?

From Scotland to the Azores, Dairy-4-Future aimed to increase the competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of dairy farms through the development of innovative and efficient dairy systems. This is an EU funded project with a consortium of eleven partners from the Atlantic region of Western Europe. The dairy sector in the Atlantic Area is of major economic importance accounting for 20% of European milk production with approximately 80,000 farms, 100,000 farmers, and 70,000 other people employed in dairy related jobs. Dairy-4-Future aims to create a network of innovative dairy farms for countries in the Atlantic coast area including: Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal and the Azores.

Ten south-west dairy farmers have the unique opportunity to become involved in this new and exciting project looking at how to improve the long term future of dairying in Western Europe.

The involvement of 10 pilot dairy farms from each region is critical to the success of the project. An initial budget of €2,000 per farm was allocated for travel for each pilot farmer over the lifetime of the project. This allowed visits to other farms in the network.

The outcomes included the sharing of knowledge of innovative and efficient dairy systems that have a greater sustainability and resistance to any future increase in volatility in milk prices and climatic hazards while preserving natural resources and mitigating climate and better added value. Recommendations for good practices with fact-sheets ready for uptake by farmers, industries, advisors and public authorities.

dairy 4 future partners