Forage production (whether grazed or conserved) is an essential cornerstone of any dairy business. Climate change is inevitable, and for many UK farms this will mean more extreme weather, with warmer, wetter winters and hotter, dryer summers. This challenges the de-facto methods of forage production in the UK dairy industry; namely perennial ryegrass leys supplemented with maize/whole crop cereals.
To understand how UK farmers can adapt, I visited dairying regions slightly closer to the equator, France, Australia and New Zealand. The following observations were made:
In many dryer regions (Victoria, Tasmania, Loire, Canterbury Plains) irrigation is deemed necessary for dairy businesses to thrive. Where practical, the economic case for irrigation of forage crops may become justified in the UK, as is commonplace in France, Australia and New Zealand.