Dairy farmers’ production systems worldwide must be able to combine profitability with the responsibility of protecting human health, animal health, animal welfare and the environment.
In order to access markets successfully, all in the dairy supply chain must take up that responsibility, from the farmer producing the milk to the eventual customer.
Dairy farmers, as the primary producers in the supply chain, must be given the opportunity to add value to their product by adopting methods of production that satisfy the demands of processors and customers. In order to do this, individual dairy farmers need a single guide on how to achieve this at a practical farm level. This guide should follow a proactive approach rather than reactive.
The Guide to good dairy farming practice has been written in a practical format for use by farmers and should be seen as benefiting their business. When adopted it will support the marketing of safe, quality-assured milk and dairy products, and focus on the relationship between consumer safety and best practice at farm level.
The guidelines on individual practices have been drawn from existing schemes around the world but are not intended to be legally binding. They aim to provide a genuine framework for farm assurance schemes to be developed world wide and give the opportunity for individual countries to develop schemes that are specific to their social, environmental, welfare and economic needs.
MISSION STATEMENT
To elaborate a practical, farm orientated, world wide achievable guide of production for dairy farmers covering different aspects of concern such as: animal health, milk hygiene, animal feeding and water, animal welfare and environment.
Terrig G. Morgan
Chairman of the IDF/FAO Task Force
on Good Dairy Farming Practices
