• Producer numbers continue to fall, falling 0.1% between April and May.
• In May there were 11,779 dairy producers in England and Wales.
• The number of dairy producers in England and Wales has fallen by 4.3% between May 2008 and May 2009.

May data shows that producer numbers for England and Wales stood at 11,779, 8 less than in April 2009. Annual comparisons show that the number of dairy producers has fallen by 530 (4.3%). The number of producers in England now stands at 9,668, a fall of 4.5% (455) when compared with May 2008. Regional data shows that the North West saw the biggest loss of producers between May 2008 and May 2009, with the region seeing 129 farmers leave dairying. Wales and the North both followed with 75 producers leaving the industry between May 2008 and May 2009. For more information on Wales producer numbers click here.

Between April and May 2009, the Mid West saw the most farmers leave the industry, with six farmers leaving. This was followed by the North West which saw four producers leave the industry over the same period. For information on producer numbers in individual counties please click here.

Falling dairy producer numbers is a trend seen in many countries. Both Australia and the US have seen the number of dairy producers fall. The US has seen numbers fall by approximately 5.9% per annum, whilst Australia reported a fall of 1.3% between 2006/07 and 2007/08 to 7,953. The EU 25 has also seen the number of dairy producers fall by 10.9% between 2006/07 and 2007/08, to 789,368. For more information on EU dairy producer numbers click here.

Please note: figures include buffalo, goat and sheeps' milk producers as well as cows milk producers.

Please note: figures include buffalo, goat and sheeps' milk producers as well as cows milk producers. Any producer selling milk for human consumption needs to be registered with the DHI and this covers a range of possibilities from someone with 1 goat to 1000 plus dairy cows. Therefore any increase seen in the numbers should not necessarily be interpreted as an increase in the number of commercial dairy farmers.

It must be taken into account that DHI figures represent the number processed forms received each month. Due to time lags in processing the forms or time lags in farmers informing the DHI that they have stopped producing, these figures may not provide an exact representation of the number of farmers that have ceased producing milk in a particular month.

Producer Numbers England & Wales

Source: DHI

Producer Numbers by Region

Source: DHI