Making milk ours - Promoting milk

In the United States of America (USA), there is a state that is forever linked with Hollywood, California. The California Milk Processor Board bonded with Goodby Silverstein & Partners over a glass of milk to create the "Got Milk?" campaign on the 20th of October 1993. Using the belief that milk was needed to wash the dryness of biscuits. The milk mustache (sic) was created two years later and that thin line of white liquid was licensed to the National Milk Processor Board.

The "milk mustache" (sic) has 90% awareness in the USA and thus it is a big brand in creating awareness for the dairy industry. In 2006, the National Milk Processor Board targeted both Mexico and the Spanish speaking nations in the Americas with the phrase "Toma leche" - meaning "Did you take or drink milk".

From 2003 to 2008, there was a campaign in Scotland to increase the awareness of the benefits of milk with the "White Stuff" milk campaign. This campaign used celebrities Andy Murray and Nell McAndrew to promote milk and led to a 3.4% increase in milk sales.

In April 2010 with a financial aid package from the European Union, a £7.5 million Make Mine Milk campaign was launched at promoting low fat milk for teenagers and mothers alike. With the promotional celebrities of the likes of Gordon Ramsey and Pixie Lott on board. The campaign was used to rebrand milk milk as both cool and healthy, especially as there had been a decline of "1% in milk consumption each year between 2001 and 2008" (Joe Thomas).

This "Make Mine Milk" campaign has been updated after the success of the London Olympics 2012 and the concept of legacy with the addition of using Olympic athletes (Laura Trott, Jade Jones and Nicola Adams) for the campaign to remind people that milk is full of nutrients and contains less than 2% fat. We await to see how this campaign helps the milk industry especially combined with the #sosdairy campaign of the summer of 2012.

So what else could we use the Olympians to advertise to promote the rural activities of both the United Kingdom and Europe?

Global Harvests, Food and Water Security - 2012

As we enter the first few weeks of September, I have been gleefully informed that Christmas is only one hundred days away. We know that this is a period for global gobbling with the American Thanksgiving feast and Christmas Day. But dare we ask the question, how have the global harvests fared this year?

The Farmer's Weekly harvest round up page notes that, as of today (12th of September 2012):

• The harvest is between 70-80% complete in the South West and has only just started (07/09/12) in Caithness, Scotland.
• This year's conditions have been summarised here and entail droughts in Spring, one of the wettest summers in 100 years and decreased sunshine hours has led to "a poor grain fill" and increased susceptibility to attacks from aphids in autumn 2011 and spring 2012 to disease infestations of brown rust, late fusarium, septoria and yellow rust.
• The Farmer's Weekly reports (11/09/12) that drilling has already started in some parts of the country.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on the 27th of July 2012 that the global harvest predictions would be reduced due to the droughts in the Black Sea region and in the United States of America - the worst since 1956 in the USA - and the export market projections were not looking good for the aforementioned regions but it may spell opportunities for the grain producers who have done well. ABC reported that the world grain harvest for 2012/13 has been reduced to 1,640 million tonnes.

The International Grains Council published a report in August will tell you more.

So what has the global harvest of food got to do with water security? The Stockholm Water Initiative Water Week, that ended on the 31st of August 2012, helped to remind readers that "one third of the world's food is lost or wasted (1.3 billion tonnes per year), which equates to one quarter of global water use for irrigation".

• One litre of milk thrown away is 1,000 litres of water consumed by a cow to produce that milk.
• The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that $1 trillion is needed for investment in irrigation technologies by 2050.

How has the harvest been with you and how are you dealing with either a lack or an excess of water?

Livestock 2012 - Day Two (updated)

Livestock 2012 - Day Two

EBLEX (The organisation for the English Beef and Sheep Industry) in their blog, Beef and Lamb Matters, describe their two days at Livestock 2012 on this page and highlights two of their publications - Better Returns from Pure-Dairy bred Male Calves (BRP 10) and Balancing the Market.

Farmer's Weekly have released a statement from Jim Paice MP at losing his position as the Minister of Agriculture and Food, this statement can be found here. The last sentence of the statement is very poignant. "As I have said repeatedly to farmers change should be seen as an opportunity – that applies to me now!"

The Farmer's Weekly highlights a list of top tips for livestock handlers published by NFU Mutual. These are two of the top tips:

• Keep your mobile phone in a chest pocket so you can call for help.
• Always take a moment to consider the risks of a task.

The Farmer's Weekly has published a summary of the Livestock 2012 event with links to the FWi articles under News & Business, Technical and Machinery News

New Defra Secretary of State & Livestock 2012

 

News hot off of the press from the Defra Twitter account - Owen Paterson MP has been confirmed as the new Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Livestock 2012 is the leading livestock show for the Great British Farmer and follow the Twitter feed on #livestock2012

The Farmer's Guardian reporter Olivia Midgley has published news of the Cattle Health and Welfare Group (CHAWG) report here. The report is said to cover such diverse issues as Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD), bovine fertility, Johne's Disease to name but a few and the full report can be downloaded at the EBLEX site here.

According to this Farmer's Guardian web page the gentleman, Jim Paice MP, who talked to the dairy farmers earlier this year has been let go with today's cabinet reshuffle. The dairy coalition has said that it will continue to work with Paice's successor. David Heath MP is, thought, to be the new farming minister.

Natural England has highlighted the five entry level and organic entry level stewardship schemes that will make environmental stewardship more effective (this page was originally published on 10th of August 2012) included hedgerow restoration; supplement to add wildflowers to buffer strips and field corners; ryegrass seed-set as winter/spring food for birds; legume and herb rich swards; and supplementary feeding in winter for farmland birds.

A leaflet that provides the funding and support for dairy farmers (NE345) has been published by Natural England and is available to download from this page.

More will be added in the next two days on this page.

ABCs - Alien Big Cats - part two

Last time, this blog explained briefly why people (from a king to an actress) used to have big cats and exotic animals - one of the main reasons was so that they could use it as a status symbol. But it was deemed in 1976 that the keeping of specific dangerous and wild animals was to be regulated through the provision of a license. This Defra website expresses that the details of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 (DWAA) are to ensure that the "private individuals who keep dangerous wild animals...do so in ways that create no risk to the public". The DWAA also regulates the keeping of the dangerous wild animals through a licensing regime from the local authority.

It is curious to note some of the animals that are listed on the DWAA 1976 (modification) (no. 2) Order 2007 including from the Marsupial family three types of kangaroo, a walleroo and the Tasmanian Devil; members from six families of the primate group; armadillos and anteaters; members of the Canidae, Felidae, Hyaenidae, Mustelidae, Ursidae, Viverridae of the Carnivore group; members of the Odobenidae, Otariidae and Phocidae families of the Pinnipede group (these include some of the heavier weight seals) to name but a few - the whole list can be found here.

Even before the modification to the list in 2007, landowners and animal hoarders had to find a dispose of the animals that ended up on the list. Even for the curious have a look, the aardwolf (see below) is excepted from the Hyaenidae family, and see what other animals made or missed the list.

Aardwolf - Proteles cristatus

Source: Britannica.com

So what did the animal hoarders and landowners do after the DWAA came into existence in 1976 - it would be thought that some were licensed, killed, sold to wildlife parks or zoological gardens and some may have been let loose - although it should be said that these are only potential answers.

There is quite a comprehensive web page about the Alien Big Cats and the UK Government on Kithra's Alternate Miscellany with over 15 web links. I will come back to this page and other similar pages when I revisit this subject sometime soon, but how has your land or activity been hampered by alien, dangerous, invasive or wild species?