The Dairy Roadmap brought together representatives from across the dairy supply chain as part of its annual Stakeholder Forum, providing positive progress updates on dairy sustainability.
The Dairy Roadmap Steering Group highlighted to those attending the impressive advancements in environmental sustainability within the dairy sector over the past five years, with the industry demonstrating tangible progress across key sustainability metrics. These include increased average milking age, reduced age at first calving, and shorter calving intervals— all clear indicators that the industry is dedicated to driving sustainable practices whilst promoting animal health and welfare.
A major highlight of the Forum was the launch of the new Dairy Roadmap website, a new and dynamic platform offering science-backed best practice guidance for both farmers and processors. This valuable resource not only supports continuous progress in sustainability but also serves as an industry hub to showcase the Roadmap’s legacy, vision, and goals to both dairy sector insiders and beyond.
The Steering Group also unveiled two new working groups as part of the Roadmap initiative; the biodiversity working group – which will work towards the creation of a sector-wide biodiversity plan, and the processor working group – which will support better data collection for the purposes of benchmarking and support setting targets for processors.
John Powell, Head of Agricultural Sectors at Defra, also joined to provide an update. He praised the success of the Roadmap initiative to date, highlighting how the dairy industry was ahead of other agricultural sectors with this initiative. He also provided an update on the current thinking of the new Government and encouraged continued collaboration within industry and with Government to achieve further progress on environmental aims.
Lyndon Edwards, Chair of the Dairy Roadmap commented: “As the incoming Chair of the Roadmap one of the key priorities I have is better communicating the aims and objectives of the Roadmap with farmers – as well as highlighting the achievements we’ve made so far.
“I’m also excited to drive forward positive change by identifying low hanging fruit for the industry – particularly farmers – and using the Roadmap and its resources to help industry identify the quick wins it can make to support positive practice.”
The Dairy Roadmap continues to lead the way in promoting a sustainable future for dairy, driven by a collective commitment to innovation, collaboration, and measurable progress.
You can watch the recording of the Stakeholder Forum here: https://youtu.be/UvPn-6E_jCo?feature=shared
About the Dairy Roadmap
The Dairy Roadmap is a cross-industry initiative founded in 2008 that works across the whole dairy supply chain to drive forward the sustainability of the entire UK dairy sector, from farm to fork. The steering group is led by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Dairy UK, and the National Farmers Union (NFU).
The Chair of the Dairy Roadmap rotates between the three steering group members and is currently held by Lyndon Edwards on behalf of AHDB. Lyndon farms a 670-acre organic dairy farm outside Chepstow, is Chair of the AHDB Sector Council, is a Board member of Dairy UK and Vice-Chair of the Dairy UK Farmers Forum.
The aim of the Dairy Roadmap is to improve the environmental sustainability of the UK dairy sector whilst ensuring the continued prosperity of the industry, and the provision of safe, affordable, nutritious and sustainable climate-friendly dairy produce for years to come.
The Dairy Roadmap continues to drive forward the sustainability of the sector by setting ambitious targets and reporting on progress (e.g., emissions, water use, energy efficiency and waste). In 2021, the Dairy Roadmap raised its ambitions for the UK dairy sector as a whole to achieve Net Zero, in addition to our existing commitments.
It is through the Roadmap initiative and its associated ambitions and targets that the UK dairy sector has become one of the most sustainable in the world.
Visit the Roadmap website to learn more: www.dairyroadmap.co.uk
