June 1, 2022

Fewer UK dairy producers are leaving the industry

A survey of major milk buyers by the UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development (AHDB) Board found that there are about 7,880 dairy producers in the UK, 160 producers or 2% lower compared to when the survey was undertaken in the same time in 2021, UK AHDB reported.

Despite the significant cost pressures farmers have been under since last summer, this is a slower rate of exit than in past years.

According to the most recent data, the average volume per farm in the UK is 1.57 million litres, which is unchanged from October 2021 but significantly higher than April 2021.

AHDB said due to the various reporting techniques employed, getting a clear picture of the number of dairy farmers in the country is often challenging.

Based on the number of farms registered to produce milk, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) can track producer numbers in England and Wales. Deregistration, on the other hand, is a voluntary process, therefore it's unlikely to be at the top of a farmer's "to do" list. When the FSA does a routine inspection, it is frequently only able to detect this cessation. These checks are done every ten years (for those who are registered with Red Tractor) or every two years otherwise. As a result, FSA data frequently exaggerate the number of dairy farmers in the country.

Defra conducts a survey on the number of dairy farms in the UK, which yields a figure that is far greater than our estimate. This is because it includes all farms with a dairy cow with offspring beyond the age of two. Around a third of the holdings had fewer than ten cows, indicating that they were unlikely to be commercial dairy farms and hence would be removed from our calculations.

The number of producers actively contributing to GB milk production is estimated by the AHDB. It is calculated using the number of active and temporary inactive producers reported by milk buyers in the Daily Milk Deliveries survey. As a result, the estimate has been updated to account for about 83% of volumes in the UK.

-      UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board