I?m not from a farming background. I studied Marketing and Advertising at University Arts of London and applied these learnings to campaigning on a variety of issues impacting people in the UK. These have included campaigns on the environment, health, social justice and animal welfare. One of the biggest campaigns I worked on for five years was the comprehensive smokefree legislation campaign. It was incredible to work on something that brought about such widespread change that benefited so many people and we?re still seeing the benefits today.

Free Range Dairy About UsThis is why I am glad to be part of Free Range Dairy. We need to find sustainable long term solutions for the dairy industry in the UK and I believe that Free Range Dairy offers an alternative solution to the ?get big or get out? mantra that seems to be driving the industry.

We had a dairy crisis in 2012 and we are in another crisis that shows no sign of abating. One of the problems is an oversupply of milk whilst at the same time farming policies telling dairy farmers to ramp up production and take advantage of emerging markets.

Free Range Dairy wants to work with farmers to benefit their business, support local communities, and work together to maximise pasture and help bring overheads down. I want to see a robust dairy farming system ready for continuing global volatility but based on a strong domestic market. To give people the opportunity via the Free Range Dairy Pasture Promise label the chance to make an informed decision about the farming system they want for the future.

I come from a mining village and when the mines closed nothing replaced it, it had a huge impact on my community. We are facing the same dilemma here. If we let our pasture dairy farms go out of business what if anything will replace them and what impact will it have on another community?