Greater transparency, improving consumer trust and confidence and better collaboration were highlighted as key areas of improvement which are required within Scotland’s dairy industry during a Scottish Dairy Hub seminar at AgriScot earlier this week.

The event raised and discussed issues affecting dairy farmers and the discussion panel consisted of Tom Hind, the chief strategy officer for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), dairy farmer Rory Christie, Roddy Maclean, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s director of agriculture and industry commentator Ian Potter.

There were many concerns raised over the industry’s ability to connect with consumers and there was agreement that greater collaboration within all areas of the dairy industry and the supply chain would help to convey the sector’s positive messages.

“Once you start to work together, you start to understand the needs of your customers,” said Rory.

He added: “We need a flexible and fast-moving industry to cope with market changes.”

Rory also highlighted that the competing markets that the UK dairy industry is up against. He added: “We’re survivors, we need more innovation and that will deliver solutions on-farm, then we can start being more competitive. It’s not our neighbours, it’s the likes of Asia where is there less regulation. We need to get better at messaging as our own regulation delivers high, high standards.”

Tom added: “Everybody can play a role, the more that we can do to give consumers a reason to buy, the better.”