NEARLY a hundred dairy farmers from across the country have had the opportunity to take part in a Q&A session and discussion about Defra’s once-in-a-generation chance to change the future of dairy contracts.

The National Farmers Unions’s exclusive webinar featured NFU dairy board chairman Michael Oakes, chief legal adviser Nina Winter and chief dairy adviser James Osman.

The panellists talked through why the consultation matters to the dairy sector and the NFU’s five key points for contractual reform before discussing issues such as producer organisations and contract terms in a live Q&A.

Michael Oakes said: “It was encouraging to see so many of our dairy farmer members taking the time to watch our webinar and asking some really important questions about the future of the dairy sector. These views will help to shape our response to the consultation.

"As dairy farmers, we want to place ourselves in a more sustainable position for the long term and dairy contracts are at the heart of this. We want to see flexible and innovative regulation that not only delivers fair terms for farmers but an equitable balancing of risk between farmers and buyers," added Mr Oakes.