To qualify, Müller Direct farmers must have a minimum three years’ experience on farm and be an active decision maker within the business.
The revised three-year program for Müller Direct farmers now includes a greater focus on environmental challenges, responsibilities and opportunities.
The initiative is part of Müller Advantage, which provides up to 600 Müller Direct dairy farmers with tools and support to help further improve supply chain collaboration, animal welfare, responsible sourcing and reductions in environmental impact.
The program, supported and funded by Müller and the Müller Milk Group, and delivered in collaboration with Kite Consulting, will include workshops, farm visits, and visits to Müller sites, in person or online.
Focus areas include the environment and sustainability, leadership and delegation, market analysis, succession planning, marketing, communication and business improvement planning.
The group will meet three times per year, enabling the farmers to share best practice and knowledge. Applications close June 28, with the first meeting taking place in October 2021.
Rob Hutchison, operations director at Müller Milk & Ingredients said, “We want to become Britain’s private label dairy leader, so we are taking a number of steps to ensure we are the partner of choice for farmers, customers and suppliers.
“Our Müller Advantage programme is already incentivizing farmers to tackle the issues that we know are important for our customers and consumers. Next Generation is further evidence of our intent to create a supply chain, from farm to customer, which is collaborative, distinctive, sustainable and profitable.
“We know from the successful first cohort that there is a lot of talent and passion for dairy farming out there, and we believe we can help this next group on their way to becoming Britain’s future elite dairy farmers.”
Frances Herdman, one of the 25 farmers selected to join the first Next Generation program, which completed in 2021, said, “One of the main things that attracted me to the Müller Next Generation programme was the chance to meet and learn from like-minded people, we are a group of younger producers who share many of the same business challenges and plans for the future.
“Being able to discuss and examine issues from each other’s businesses is a great way of bringing ideas home. Farming can be quite an isolated industry and this programme gave us great access to a lively, innovative and supportive group.”
James Pemberton, also part of the first cohort, said, “By far the most beneficial aspect for me was the chance to share our financial and technical information within the group. It helped me and my family to focus on the direction we were heading in and how we can regularly review our business strategy to reap the best financial reward.”