Help us tell the positive story of dairy

UNDER normal circumstances we would be celebrating all things dairy at the Welsh Dairy Show about this time of year. However, the show is sadly not going ahead. A show that is going ahead, however, is the Royal Welsh Winter Fair at the end of the month and we are going to use the occasion to recognise an individual who has made a great contribution towards the development and become an integral part of the dairy industry in Wales.

Our dairy industry, alongside livestock farming, is coming under increasing fire by those who would see all livestock farming stopped and our natural, sustainable diets swapped for laboratory grown food like substances. The reason that’s often cited for this is that dairy farming is bad for the environment. With COP26 under way these conversations are increasing in intensity, but the whole truth is not always recognised.

So when it comes to dairy, it’s worth noting that the dairy industry has been making significant improvements in its effort to tackle climate change and provide sustainable, nutritious food. The dairy industry is a billion strong community. Beyond that, our dairy farmers take care of around 360 million cows and 20% of the world’s agricultural land.

Much of that land could not be used to grow food for human consumption. But our dairy cows can graze that land and they can transform things that are inedible for human beings into highly nutritious products like milk.

In addition, our milk and dairy products rank amongst the top five traded agricultural commodities by value and volume, benefitting national and local economies.

But that’s not all that’s good about dairy – did you know that more than 600 million people live on dairy farms globally, helping to support rural economies and in a world where gender equality still needs a lot of work, 37 million dairy farms worldwide are headed by women.

One of the challenges for the dairy sector is that policy makers and consumers don’t often see the good that dairy does for the environment and sustainability, because they’re surrounded by the media throwing out misconceptions.

So with this in mind, help us tell the positive story of dairy here in Wales and nominate your favourite dairy person for our FUW Outstanding Service to the Welsh Dairy Industry award.

The winner will be announced, and the presentation made, at this year’s Royal Welsh Winter Fair on Monday, November 29.

There are a number of very worthy individuals in Wales who deserve this award and looking back we have had some fantastic nominations and winners.

So if you know of a person in Wales who has made a great contribution towards the development of the dairy industry and has become an integral part of it in Wales, then why not nominate them for this prestigious award?

Nominations should be in the form of a letter or citation giving full details of the work and achievements of the nominee and need to be emailed to the FUW Carmarthen office ; carmarthen@ fuw.org.uk or sent by post to FUW Carmarthen, 13A Barn Road, Carmarthen, SA31 1DD by Friday, November 12.