More than 170 companies had confirmed their attendance at the forthcoming Dairy-Tech event within four weeks of the show launching its stand sales, said its organisers, and more than 100 stand holders have since pledged to support the event.

After a successful inaugural show in 2018, the 2019 event is to be held again at Stoneleigh Park, on Wednesday, February 6.

RABDF managing director, Matthew Knight, said the support Dairy-Tech has gained in such a small space of time reaffirmed that its content was correct for the dairy sector, with new products, better service and innovation leading the industry.

“Dairy-Tech’s success is a result of hard work, evaluation of past events and feedback from members, industry companies and our advisory board. This guidance has been, and will continue to be, invaluable.

“The 2019 event will see the return of the dairy and innovation hubs, both of which will continue to address the newest concepts and address the key issues affecting the sector through workshops and interviews, providing technical information and guidance, opinions, market insight, new products and the latest innovation," he said.

“We will also be vacating the Blackdown buildings and moving to Hall 2, a purpose built exhibition hall that will allow us to grow the show, take more floor space and provide a heated environment for exhibitors.”

Alongside the new kit on display, there will be some thought provoking exhibits too. Ever wondered whether milk pasteurised and packed directly at your farm could help avoid the dependency on volatile milk prices currently faced by many farms?

Direct Dairy, a Dutch start-up focusing on ag-tech and food-tech, thinks its breakthrough concept could do just that. At Dairy-Tech, it will explain how, by cutting out the processor, farms could allow themselves to produce this premium consumer product to a standard where they could sell directly to businesses and consumers.

Mr Knight added that whilst Dairy-Tech will host a number of more familiar on-farm innovations, such as genomics, rapid diagnostics, what the future of forage looks like and how to improve feed efficiency, it also has some fantastic ground-breaking concepts from virtual reality to revolutionary labelling and robots.

“We have shaped the Dairy-Tech event model to stimulate thinking and ensure the dairy industry is open to a whole host of technological ideas that will eventually shape the future of all businesses in the sector," he said.

“For example, whilst virtual reality isn’t a concept widely used in the sector we hope to be able to demonstrate its potential role on-farm and get businesses thinking about the benefits it could bring – could it be an efficient way of providing training, could it be the answer to hands-free machinery servicing and does it have the potential to link with drones when it comes to field mapping.”

Innovation-focused company, Mimica, will explain how its new labelling system is set to contribute to combating some of Britain’s waste problem. These high-tech labels have the ability to detect the freshness of perishable food products, such as milk, through its calibration – designed to degrade at the same rate as food whilst adjusting to conditions along the way.

As well as a jam-packed innovation hub and more than 50 new products, the dairy hub will focus on a range of topics from risk mitigation, to keeping milk relevant to consumers, applied genomics, and whether we can deliver the much vaunted Clean Air Strategy. Further sessions include young people and staff retention, future regulation of dairy contracts and Brexit outlooks.

Practical demonstrations, like a hoof trimming exercise, will take place, with expert Steve Hookway delivering knife and grinder techniques, and for the first time, the show will also be introducing thermal imaging and its role in detecting lameness.

* Tickets are £17 when booked in advance at www.dairy-tech.uk and free for RABDF members.