Dairy Hub’s show tour

The Scottish Dairy Hub has begun a tour of local agricultural shows, dishing out technical and industry advice to farmers across the country.

The service, jointly funded by AHDB Dairy and the Scottish Government, has been created to help improve dairy farm competitiveness, efficiency, sustainability and growth.

“While we offer a great service over the phone and by e-mail, agricultural shows offer a great

“We are still experiencing a skills shortage”

space to meet farmers face to face and we always get inquiries at every show,” said hub manager Stuart Martin. “I expect this year we will answer questions on labour, as one in 10 of our inquiries are on that topic, and we are still experiencing a skills shortage.”

The first stop on the tour was Ayr County. “The sector is going through a transitional period at the moment and that was reflected in Ayr,” said Mr Martin. “We spoke to farmers from big and small farms, on a huge range of topics from grant funding to on-farm processing, the hub isn’t for one particular type of dairy farmer or issue, it’s for everyone in the sector.”

The Dairy Hub will travel to Campbeltown, Dumfries and Turriff shows, and will also be found at larger national events including the Royal Highland and AgriScot.