SCOTTISH MINISTER for Rural Affairs Mairi Gougeon is amongst the panel of industry experts set to speak at this year’s Scottish Dairy Hub seminar at AgriScot.

Also appearing will be AHDB dairy strategy director Paul Flanagan; ex banker and now progressive Dumfries dairy farmer Brendan Muldowney; independent dairy market analyst Chris Walkland; and Kite Consulting’s David Keiley.

The panellists will present on a range of different issues, including an overview of the present market situation, prospects for the next few months and immediate practical challenges facing Scottish dairy farmers. They will also assess what might lie ahead for dairy farming in Scotland over the medium term, from an economic and technical perspective.

Scottish Dairy Hub and NFU Scotland milk policy manager Stuart Martin, explains why it was important to feature such a high-profile panel: “The Hub’s main role is to answer the questions of dairy farmers and we wanted to give them an opportunity to ask questions directly to industry figures they may hear about, but don’t have a direct line for.

“Working with Kite this year will also give us a great opportunity for a greater amount of knowledge exchange from previous events which will ensure a very informative event for farmers.”

Mr Keiley said: “There are some very important issues on the horizon for dairy farmers in Scotland and partnering up with the Scottish Dairy Hub gives us a great opportunity to get some key messages across and listen to feedback from the farmers themselves.”