The Dairy Council for Northern Ireland [DCNI] has announced that global market expert, Christophe Lafougere, will be the keynote speaker at the seventh Sustainable Dairy conference.
Lafougere is managing director of Gira Foods, an international food and drink consultancy specialising in market intelligence and analysis.
Speaking ahead of the event, CEO of the DCNI, Ian Stevenson said: “The dairy sector is a vital component of the Northern Ireland economy, sustaining the livelihoods of around 3,200 dairy farming families and over 2,200 employees of dairy processors around Northern Ireland.
“Worth almost £1.5 billion annually, the dairy sector is an important pillar in rural communities throughout Northern Ireland.”
Delegates will also receive a broader update from the Department of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs [DAERA] on future agricultural policy and how producers, processors, and other stakeholders can work together.
Dairy Council speakers
At the event, the DCNI will host a speech by College of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Enterprise [CAFRE] head of dairy, Don Morrow.
Morrow will provide an update on the practical technology being applied at CAFRE to help build an evidence base for delivering a more sustainable future for Northern Ireland’s dairy industry.
The deputy director of green growth at DAERA, Jonathan McFerran, will speak about the Sustainable Use of Livestock Slurry [SULS] programme, and the potential to provide solutions for nutrient management, sustainable energy, targeted nutrient application, and possible export of surplus nutrients once separated.
Managing director of BH Estates, Jack Blakiston Houston, a participant in the SULS Farm2Export project, will speak about his work to develop a phosphorous export product by mobile separation of solids from slurry.
These solids are then removed from the source farms and fed into an anaerobic digestion (AD) process with the aim of reducing the amount of phosphorus returned to the soil in Northern Ireland.
Finally, Ian Stevenson will chair a discussion panel about the challenges and opportunities that sustainability presents for farmers, processors, and wider society.
The panel will include director of transition policy within DAERA, Dr. Rosemary Agnew, Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) president William Irvine, and Dale Farm’s head of harm services, and incoming producer services director, Neville Graham.
The conference will take place at Dunadry Hotel and Gardens, Co. Antrim, on Wednesday, February 5.
