An image of two cows in a field. Dairy Farming.

Lucy Matthews

Plant-based alternatives have been on the rise over the last few years as new data and information have emerged. But what does this mean for dairy farming? And more importantly, the livelihoods of dairy farmers?

As the daughter of a dairy farmer, I am familiar with being woken up by my father’s footsteps as he gets up early for work. He starts the strenuous duties that come with running the home of hundreds of black and white gentle giants and providing a small county with their beloved milk.

I have seen the stresses that come with finding out that a driver has failed to turn up to work when a small corner shop in the middle of Wales is impatiently awaiting their order. Alongside this, I have overheard the persistently desperate conversations my dad has on the phone with customers who demand lower prices. I never really understood the impact of decreasing milk prices on farming until my dad sold his business in 2021.

“Plant-based alternatives have forged ahead and created huge economic competition for the dairy industry.”

Admitting defeat, just like that a business that had been passed down through five generations had run its course. Like milk that has been put out for too long, dairy farming today has turned sour and is regarded as a non-profitable sector. As dairy farmers like my dad struggle to keep up with a challenging and troubling economic climate, I question: Is there simply no going back for the industry?

Is Dairy Farming A Dying Business?

Whether it’s a carton of milk for a child at lunch, or a pensioner’s opportunity to have a conversation with the milkman during their door-stop delivery round, milk is a constant in many people’s lives.

Therefore, it may seem confusing to many that according to Francis Clark, nine per cent of British dairy farmers are expecting to stop producing milk by 2025. This is due to not being able to cover input costs, including feed and energy, as a result of constant and fluctuating economic struggle and a shift in consumer tastes.

Back in 2020, the UK government introduced the dairy industry code of practice. This set out to improve transparency in contractual relationships and give farmers a fairer deal through the regulation of the conduct of dairy farmers and milk processors in their dealings with one another. This gave the industry hope but after the pandemic and the war with Ukraine, in December 2021, inflation hit and dairy products were more expensive than ever.

The dairy industry has also undergone less growth over the years compared to other sectors including the fruit and vegetable industry. Deliveries were down by 2.3 per cent in 2022 as they averaged 32.2m litres a day, with levels stooping even lower at the end of last year. As a result, dairy farmers are scaling back on output, and scrambling to meet the costs of feed, fuel, energy and labour.

Plant-based Pressures

It may seem unclear as to why the milk industry is failing as according to Dairy UK, 12,000 active dairy farmers produce almost 15 billion litres of milk every year. It isn’t something which many would deem out of fashion… but it is.

Plant-based alternatives have forged ahead and created huge economic competition for the dairy industry, and the average person’s milk consumption in the UK has fallen 50 per cent since the 1950s. According to JBT Corporation, plant-based milk is the most sought-after plant-based product. Its popularity has stemmed from diet culture, the environmental crisis and the rise of vegan diets.

The food sector has adapted to this shift in consumer taste by bringing in milks such as oat, soya, almond or coconut. After initially being told that drinking our daily dose of skimmed guaranteed us strong bones, nutritionists have emerged claiming that what has supposedly been guiding us away from osteoporosis has been inflicting more harm than good on our physical health, and the health of the planet too.

“Britain’s dairy farmers come with generations of passed-down history.”

Dairy farming is regarded as having a significant detrimental impact on the environment as it causes around three times more greenhouse gas emissions and takes up around ten times as much land as plant-based farming. Choosing vegan alternatives is a step in the right direction when it comes to helping the environment, despite the huge economic losses it inflicts on the dairy industry.

However, plant-based alternatives are also often more expensive than cow’s milk and sometimes require paying an extra 50p more in a coffee shop. So going plant-based does come with both positives and negatives.

Supermarkets Compete for Lowest Price

A huge factor affecting the livelihoods and the business of dairy farming is the competition from supermarkets, who are constantly lowering the prices of milk to appeal to shoppers facing the cost of living crisis. In May of last year, a four-pint bottle of milk found in Tesco and Sainsbury’s stood at £1.45, the lowest price since even before the pandemic.

These price cuts saw almost 4.5 per cent of dairy farmers leave the industry in 2022 according to the National Farmers Union (NFU). Competing with these huge supermarkets is a losing game for local farmers who cannot afford to go any lower and face permanent economic losses.

Securing the Future of Dairy Farming

Britain’s dairy farmers come with generations of passed-down history. Dairy farms across the country are renowned for their quality and the dedicated teams of workers behind them, keeping the cows milked and the milk flowing. Local businesses forge close relationships across towns all over the UK, which are nurtured for years. Counties receive pint after pint of delivery day in and day out. The UK is the world’s tenth largest milk producer; the British dairy industry accounts for 18 per cent of all UK agricultural production.

@ameliathomson90

#farminglifestyle #dairyfarming #agriculture #womeninag

♬ original sound – lyonsagri – lyonsagri

Seeing the demise of dairy farming would be a huge dent to the UK’s outstanding farming legacy, causing devastation for workers within the industry that has taken hit after hit. In recent years, the industry has been forced to rethink its status within the UK agriculture climate. Is it time to ditch dairy farming altogether or should change happen to secure the reputation of British farming?

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Featured image courtesy of Stijn te Strake via Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.

Hi! I am Lucy and I really enjoy writing funny, chatty pieces of writing. I am inspired by the likes of Byrony Gordon and Dolly Alderton- Their writing style is the best!

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