Events from Dairy UK

DAIRY FARMING AND THE ENVIRONMENT - THIS YEAR'S CHALLENGES

Dairy UK is hosting a second conference for dairy farm advisers at Stoneleigh Park on 3rd June to help the industry meet the challenges set out in the Environmental Plan for Dairy Farming.

This event is essential to anyone who provides advice to dairy farmers, including: farm consultants, Catchment Sensitive Farming Officers, milk buyers that are involved in discussions with dairy farmers, environmental consultants and agronomists. To attend then please either send an e-mail to Ian Wakeling at iwakeling@dairyuk.org or complete the attached response form and return it to Dairy UK as soon as possible.

This year’s conference follows on from last year’s successful inaugural event and once again will focus on the key messages that need to be communicated to dairy farmers to help them lessen their environmental impact at least cost.

This year we will be looking at:

Tricia Henton, the Director of Environment Protection for the Environment Agency, will be giving the keynote speech.

The results of Defra’s consultation on the Nitrates Directive should be known by the time of the conference and we are fortunate that Maureen Novak, Defra’s Head of Policy on Nitrates, will be able to present an overview and outline Defra’s policy.

Following the feedback we received from the delegates last year, we have included a session that focuses on Anaerobic Digestion. We have asked three leading figures who are actively involved in on-farm installations to present the practical issues that are involved and also to give an idea of what the potential costs might be to help farmers decide whether this might be suitable for their businesses. The three speakers will then take part in a panel discussion to debate the subject further with the audience.

This conference is part of the industry’s commitment to delivering the Environmental Plan for Dairy Farming that has been developed by major industry bodies, such as Dairy UK, NFU, Environment Agency, DairyCo and RABDF, to set out a framework to improve environmental performance on dairy farms and promote practices that are good for the environment and farming.

Any delegate who is on the BASIS Professional Register is able to claim a total of 4 points for attendance. Forms will available for you to complete on the day.

Conference Details - 3rd June

Venue:

Stoneleigh Park Exhibition and Conference Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire CV8 2LZ. The conference will be he held in the Wolfson Theatre of the Warwick Complex.

Programme:

09.00 Registration, tea and coffee

09.50 Introduction by Maria Wasley - Environment Manager: Dairy UK

10.00 Keynote Speech

Tricia Henton – Director of Environment Protection for the Environment Agency

10.30 NVZ Action Plan, regulatory context and Defra policy

Maureen Nowak – Defra’s Head of Policy on Nitrates

11.00 Practical options for minimising slurry storage requirements and expanding slurry storage capacity

Ian Powell – Managing Director of The Dairy Group

11.30 Coffee Break

11.50 Maximising value of N: nutrient management techniques

Andy Guy – Dairy Farmer and Vice-Chairman of NFU Dairy Board

12.20 Review of available sources of advice and guidance for dairy farmers

MANNER (Manure Nitrogen Evaluation Routine)
Professor Brian Chambers – Senior Principal Scientist - ADAS

Slurry Wizard and other DairyCo advice tools
Chris Coxon – DairyCo SW Extension Officer

13.00 LUNCH

13.50 Anaerobic Digestion – 3 presentations followed by panel discussion

Winston Reed – Managing Director: Greener for Life

James Murcott – Methanogen (UK) Ltd

3rd speaker to be confirmed

15.10 The Milk Road Map

Dr Ed Komorowski – Technical Director: Dairy UK

15.40 Closing remarks

15.55 CLOSE

Click here to download Conference Programme and Registration Form (55.5 KB)

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dairy uk schedule of meeting dates for 2008

Click here to download schedule (47.3 KB)