On its second anniversary, Dairy UK has been hailed as an increasingly effective and respected organisation by chairman David Curry.
The dairy industry body has confronted issues including salt, traffic-light labelling, child obesity and the possible scrapping of school milk top-up subsidies. The government later backed down on that, resulting in a significant lobbying victory.
He also claimed that Dairy UK was "winning the argument with the competition authorities and influencing the key people it needs to influence".
But he admits that the dairy industry body has yet to win the hearts and minds of farmers who largely remain ignorant of what the organisation is doing.
Quota broker Ian Potter said that most farmers didn't have clue about what Dairy UK did. "Many farmers see a bleaker, less profitable future and this doesn't inspire confidence in any representative organisation, let alone one they don't understand or relate to."
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