IS JOINT VENTURING THE WAY FORWARD FOR CORNWALL’S DAIRY FARMERS?

A major new research project being carried out by the Centre for Rural Research, and funded by Objective One, aims to explore the potential for ‘joint venturing’ among Cornwall’s dairy farms.

The £88,460 project has been approved for £44,230 from the Objective One Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), with match funding from DEFRA.

As Martin Turner, the director of the project, said, “Joint venturing has the potential to make available to the current generation of dairy farmers in Cornwall the economies of scale that other regions currently enjoy. This project will focus on farmer collaboration in production rather than in marketing, processing or the purchasing of inputs, and in that sense it is innovative.”

With the likelihood that lower milk prices are here to stay, dairy farmers need to achieve economies of scale in order to maintain the viability of their businesses. According to this project the concept of nearby farms ‘pooling their resources’ is a way forward that can benefit farmers in a number of ways, including higher profits.

“There are a number of models to be researched which could be applied to the Cornish scenario,” said John Hambly, the Project Manager.

“Our team will visit more than 200 Cornish dairy farmers to explain the concept of joint venturing and the project’s purpose. It is expected from our initial soundings that a good proportion will participate in the project. Now is the time to consider serious expansion because there is evidence that the dairy farming industry is already starting to adapt to the new climate. If Cornish farmers don’t do something soon there is a danger that the restructuring now taking place will further disadvantage the region.”

The University of Exeter, which is leading this research, is working closely with the Duchy College in Cornwall. The project already has the support of a cross-section of tenants and landowners, as well as much of the dairy industry.