Roger, with the help of his son David, runs 33ha and 100 Holstein Friesians at Brunslow Farm. A further 33ha a short distance away are managed on an annual basis. Twelve months ago, writing for the Dairy Event issue of Dairy Farmer, I highlighted thepossible influence of the multinational trading companies on the outcome of the GATT agreement. Indeed, I even went on to suggest that the GATT agreement was, to a large extent, designed and orchestrated by these very companies, largely for their own benefit. Twelve months later, far from being the spectre hanging over our future that it once was, I have even heard farmers suggest that they would consider producing milk at lower world prices rather than run the annual gauntlet of finding enough quota. This is particularly true of many new entrants, hamstrung as they are by the restrictions of quota as they seek to gain a foothold in the dairy industry.
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