Now the debate really starts in earnest!

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Nocton Dairies confident it can sell its milk

22 November 2010

NOCTON Dairies director Peter Willes has insisted the Lincolnshire ‘super dairy’ would have ‘no issues’ in marketing its milk, despite the public backlash against it.

A number of major supermarkets have already indicated their reluctance to source milk from the proposed 3,770-cow unit or any similar ones that follow because of consumer concerns over animal welfare.

But questioned on whether he feared retailers could boycott the milk during a live Farmers Guardian online debate last Friday, Mr Willes wrote: “We are already connected in the processing industry and believe we will have no issues in marketing the milk, whether it is in the liquid market or in other dairy products.

“While people want to be negative about this application, it brings very sustainable dairying in the form of high welfare, high efficiency, recycling and renewable energy.”

Nocton’s directors have already held informal talks with processors and supermarkets but have stressed no deals can be signed until planning permission is granted. They said there was ‘private interest’ but acknowledged retailers might wait until the unit is up and running before making any public commitments.

During the hour long debate, Mr Willes delivered a robust defence of the controversial development in the face of a barrage of questions and comments on the ethics and practicalities of the project from readers and co-panellist, Viva!’s Justin Kerswell.

Mr Kerswell described the plans as a ‘retrograde step, when extensive and organic farming remains popular’. He claimed intensive dairy farming was turning cows into ‘something, sadly, akin to Frankenstein’s monster’.

“Mega-dairies are bad for cows and they are bad for people. The British public is rejecting them - and I see no point in the future that they will be convinced otherwise,” Mr Kerswell wrote.

Mr Willes responded by emphasising the benefits the scale of units like Nocton can deliver in areas like animal welfare and the environment. .

 “Large dairy farms offer tremendous opportunities for efficiency making investments in specialist cow care, the best facilities, the most able staff and continual training and development possible. This, combined with the production of renewable energy, the lowest carbon footprint and the latest technology to protect the environment keeps the farm economically sustainable in turn,” he wrote.

The third panellist, veterinary scientist Jon Huxley, of Nottingham Veterinary School, argued that the unit should not be condemned because of its scale. “Any farm, no matter how big or small, should be judged on its individual merits,” he said.

Mr Willes also came under fire from local Nocton residents, who sought guarantees their quality would not be affected. He outlined changes made to the resubmitted planning application intended to address such concerns, including the halving of cow numbers, improved digestate storage facilities, higher standard effluent piping systems and provision for the anaerobic digester to be built before any cows arrive.

Related articles

• Company pulls out of 'super dairy' plans (telegraph.co.uk)