AN INDUSTRY shape up is needed if UK dairying is to take full advantage of the opportunities of a post-Brexit world.

That was the message at an AHDB-hosted seminar held at last week's UK Dairy Day in Telford. Looking at prospects for the dairy industry after leaving Europe, AHDB’s head of strategic insight, David Swales, kicked off the event with analysis of the UK sector's current trading position and where demand potential lies at a global level.

Demand for dairy commodity products would, he said, be a key global growth area over the next decade, with a ‘phenomenal’ increase forecast in the Asia-Pacific region, fuelled by rapid expansion of the middle class.

But Mr Swales warned that to take advantage, UK industry would need to catch up with its global competitors with a targeted exports strategy and more competitive production base.

He said: “The key challenge for the whole industry is how we can become more competitive, improve efficiency, drive down costs and align supply chains effectively so we can take advantage of these opportunities.”

The UK is currently a massive net importer of dairy products, and displacing some of these imports with domestic production was also identified as a big opportunity – so long as there was investment in processing capacity. Mr Swales stressed that, to draw investment into UK facilities, a demonstrably competitive, sustainable and resilient production base would be critical.

He also revealed that his AHDB dairy team was currently working on a piece of analysis looking at the impact of three different post-Brexit policy scenarios on individual farm enterprises across seven sectors.

He said: “A lot of the work we’ve done so far has been quite top level and farmers may question what it means for them – this report will be far more tangible and relatable for farmers.”

The scenario modelling will be published as a Horizon report at the AHDB grain market outlook conference on October 11.

AHDB board member and dairy chair Gwyn Jones concluded the Dairy Day meeting by saying dairy farmers should be looking to raise their game and that AHDB was there to help them do that, citing a new publication looking at delivering a more competitive industry through optimal dairy systems. The publication recommends that British dairy farms narrow production to one of two systems – block calving within a 12-week window or all year round calving – in order to achieve significant competitive gains at farm level.