With a dairy sector under increasing pressure to be more efficient often with reducing returns, help is now at hand with 80% funded Dairy Improvement Plans developed to improve business sustainability.

LandSkills East Midlands in conjunction with The Dairy Group and XL Vets has developed the East Midlands Dairy Improvement Programme (EMDIP) to deliver Dairy Improvement Plans to 100 farms across the region.

Funded by LandSkills East Midlands, part of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), Dairy Improvement Plans provide farmers with a herd health analysis and resource data to develop and implement an action plan which will improve the sustainability of their overall enterprise.

Ian Ohnstad from EMDIP said: "We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to work in partnership with dairy farmers and their vets in the East Midlands to bring about improvements in herd health, business and resource efficiency and dairy farm profit. This programme will build on the strength of relationship between the farmer and his vet, which together with our experience in the UK and overseas in giving independent technical advice and finding profitable business solutions will help move the dairy industry on to even greater heights in this region."

Managed by Lantra on behalf of East Midlands Development Agency (emda) - which is responsible for RDPE in the region, LandSkills East Midlands is just one initiative which can support dairy farmers in the region. As Andrew Morgan, emda's Skills and Communities Director explained: "Taking part in a Dairy Improvement Plan can help farmers to identify key priorities for change, as well as providing a route to potentially access the wider RDPE grant scheme that we manage on behalf of the region. Supporting the dairy farming industry is these ways is vital in improving its future competitiveness and sustainability."