Sarah Furno of Cashel Blue cheese, dairy farmer and National Dairy Council chair Teddy Cashman, dietician Orla Walsh and Irish Country Living editor Amii McKeever at the Farmers Journal Dairy Day 2018. Orla Walsh was emphatic in her criticism of juices that some young people are drinking instead of milk. She said: “A lot of juices have no protein, a lot of sugar and as for calling milk ‘full fat’, is

absolutely ridiculous as the fact is it’s not close to a high-fat product.” Sarah Furno said the first thing they do when taking tours into their business is give visitors a glass of milk. She also highlighted that maybe it is time to take the story of milk, how it is produced and the processing side into the cities rather than wait for the tours to come on to farms. Teddy Cashman said we must remember that milk was produced in Ireland over 4,000 years ago and as a quality product it has stood the test of time. \ Philip Doyle

Food economist Ciaran Fitzgerald discusses climate change and the environment at the Irish Farmers Journal Dairy Day 2018 and looks at the challenges and solutions for a growing dairy sector. On far left dairy farmer Gillian O’Sullivan explained that she feels there is a need for advisers and the Department to clearly explain the situation to farmers and if climate change targets are not met in 2030 what are the implications for farmers. Noel Meehan from Teagasc, third from left, explained the new service available to farmers who will work with farmers to monitor and improve water quality. John Muldowney from the Department of Agriculture highlighted some of the issues at farm level that need to be managed in order to meet climate change targets. Thomas Hubert from the Irish Farmers Journal moderated the session. \ Philip Doyle

Mary Morrissey, dairy sector manager with Bord Bia, spoke about the impact of China and Southeast Asia and why Ireland simply cannot ignore the potential in the market where population is growing and consumers are starting to consume more and more dairy product. \ Philip Doyle

Mary Morrissey, Bord Bia, Roisin Hennerty, Ornua and James Caffyn, GIRA Consultant at the Irish Farmers Journal Dairy Day 2018. Roisin outlined the progress of the Kerrygold brand and why it is the number two ranked brand of butter based on value in the US market. James Caffyn explained that trends such as A2 milk, GMO-free milk, and Organic milk often return only a very short premium before they are commoditised after a few years and the risk is the farmer would continue to bear the cost while the premium from retailers disappears. \ Philip Doyle