Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the development of value-added operations within the diary sector.

Dairy is the largest agricultural sector playing a vital role in the British economy and we want to see it produce, sell, and export more of our great British dairy products. The sector is world renowned with a strong reputation for quality, built on high animal welfare standards, strong environmental protection, traceability, and sustainability. This is a strong basis on which to sell more of our produce at home and abroad, increasing overall value in the sector.

Our new £27 million Farming Investment Fund also opened on 16 November. This will provide grants to farmers so that they can invest in the equipment, technology and infrastructure that will help their businesses to prosper, while improving their productivity and further enhancing the environment. The Fund will help them to focus on more efficient production methods, to reduce resource costs, to improve yields, and to provide a better return. We intend future rollout of the Fund will support producers who want to process and add value to their products, to create new products, or to sell their produce directly to consumers.

More information on the Fund is available at the following link.

The Farming Investment Fund launches today - Future Farming (blog.gov.uk)