Staffordshire MP tours a farm and the UK’s biggest fresh milk plant as part of the NFU Food and Farming Fellowship scheme
Cannock Chase MP Josh Newbury was among politicians on a new NFU scheme that visited the UK’s biggest fresh milk plant to see state-of-the-art technology and innovation and find out more about the British dairy sector.
He joined 10 other MPs from across the country and all political parties to tour Arla’s site in Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, on 7 February as part of the NFU’s Food and Farming Fellowship Scheme.
The scheme launched last year in partnership with sponsoring organisations ABP UK, Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), Arla Foods, Barfoots, British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) and Fareshare, will showcase the industry and enable participating MPs to see first-hand how sustainable and affordable food gets from field to fork.
The group went to a nearby dairy farm, run by one of Arla’s farmer owners, before heading to the processing site and touring the facility which uses cutting edge technology and innovation, including renewable energy.
NFU dairy board chair Paul Tompkins said it was important those MPs on the fellowship scheme were able to get out on farm, see such a state-of-the-art milk processing plant, find out more about the importance of British dairying and he wanted to thank Arla for hosting.
He said: “English and Welsh dairy farmers are committed to sustainable British dairy farming and it was important for the MPs to get on farm and tour the Arla site.
“We are sure this helped give them a wider understanding of the importance of our farms, the dairy sector and the wider supply chain and its contribution to food production, the economy, jobs, communities and the environment.
“Years of high input costs for feed, fertiliser, and fuel, and now the threat from changes to inheritance tax, underline the importance of engaging with our politicians to give them the tools, knowledge and understanding needed, to gain the investment and growth required for the future of British farming and the dairy sector.”
Arla Foods UK is Britain’s biggest dairy company, processing around 3.5 billion litres of milk a year, with a turnover of over £2 billion.
As a cooperative, Arla is owned by 8,000 dairy farmers across Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and the UK.
The 70-acre site at Aylesbury was officially opened in February 2012 and employs hundreds of people including apprentices.
MPs on the NFU’s Food and Farming Fellowship Scheme will speak up in their constituencies but also in Westminster on some of the big issues impacting the farming industry which forms the backbone of the UK’s largest manufacturing sector – food and drink – contributing more than £146 billion to the economy.
