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Sharp decline in the number of British dairy farmers
The number of British dairy farmers fell by almost 6% last year. That is the strongest decline in six years. There was a sharp decline in the number of companies, especially in England.
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This is evident from recent figures from the British agricultural and horticultural council AHDB. Compared to April 2023, there were a total of 2024 fewer dairy farms in April 440 and their number stood at 7.130. This does not include the number of dairy farmers in Northern Ireland. About 2.500 are still active there.
The sharp decrease in the number of companies was mainly caused by the low milk prices in the winter period 2023-2024. At that time, milk prices were the lowest in 7 years. Last spring the milk price picked up again, but only to a limited extent. In the meantime, milk production per company increased rapidly. In October last year, production was still more than 1,6 million liters annually, last spring this had already increased to more than 1,7 million liters.