I hear there was plenty of talk about Lakeland Dairies at the Virginia Show this week around scrapping the recently announced rules for peak milk penalties and supply restrictions.

Seemingly, a number of the ongoing board elections are being fought on the ticket that the peak penalty rules should be scrapped. There are five of the 13 electoral regions up for grabs at the moment. The other eight were already voted on. This follows the restructure to reduce the board from 22 to 13 members with the option to co-opt another three members. This is taking place with outgoing CEO Michael Hanley in the departure lounge, but the recruitment process is on track I’m told with five candidates shortlisted. Three are external and two are internal.