dairy farm profits <\/a>are expected to fall by two-thirds. <\/p>\nThis latest survey, compiled by Kite Consulting and the Daykin Partnership, spoke to 37 producers who represent around 40% of the 46,000 head GB organic dairy herd. <\/p>\n
The emerging picture was described as \u201cstark\u201d, with forage stock levels, winter feed security and farm profitability all primary concerns for a large proportion of organic farms.<\/p>\n
Of those surveyed 81% rated the situation on forage availability as \u201csignificant\u201d or \u201csevere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organic dairy producers face increased challenges as they must meet strict minimum standards for forage inclusion in the diet as part of their organic certification requirements. <\/p>\n
Rob Daykin, managing director of the Daykin Partnership said: \u201cAllied to this, 73% of respondents rated winter feed security and farm profitability outlooks as severe, with the impact on feed costs not far behind as a significant concern for 68% of the survey participants.\u201d <\/p>\n
The result is that 86% of dairy producers are considering culling cows as a mitigation measure, ahead of extended grazing (65%) and buying additional forage (62%). <\/p>\n
\u201cThis reflects a structural response, with farms looking to reduce herd size and feed demand, rather than simply sourcing more feed to get through winter,\u201d Daykin adds.<\/p>\n
While this will have an immediate impact on milk volumes, it could also have a much longer-term impact on dairy herds. <\/p>\n
Kite Consulting\u2019s head of corporate, Becki Reay said that the data shows that there are not enough organic heifers to replace them. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen, in the past, when organic farmers lack confidence in the long-term outlook, the result is often for them to relinquish organic status or leave the sector,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYet, with a stable and growing demand for organic dairy at retail level, it is crucial that these farmers have the confidence to make the necessary investments that will be returned through a long-term, sustainable milk-price.`\u2019 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Organic Dairy Drought Impact report has revealed that dairy farmers are concerned over forage availability, winter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[3434,13,28305,39509,45917,45918],"class_list":["post-111506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-animals","tag-britain","tag-cow","tag-eating","tag-enjoy","tag-happy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117162073257001582","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}