'There's a buzz about Jersey's dairy industry now'

Tom Perchard says farming in Jersey is more expensive due to the cost of imports, land and transport

A dairy farmer who had been thinking about leaving the industry has said fresh government policy changed his mind.

Tom Perchard and his family are the second largest milk producers in Jersey, supplying 15% of the island's milk from La Ferme Farm in St Martin.

He said the high cost of importing feed, fertiliser and seeds combined with the increasing price of land and transport made it difficult for dairy farming to be profitable.

The third-generation dairy farmer said: "We were going to jack it in but there's been a shift - there's a buzz about the industry now."

Philip Le Maistre says the States' unanimous decision has been "a game-changer"

Mr Perchard explained: "Currently, we have receptive ministers in local government who have increased their support and agricultural budget.

"The agricultural loan scheme is a £10m pot at a 3% rate which is relatively cheap borrowing."

In his director's review of 2024, Philip Le Maistre, chairman of the Jersey Milk Marketing Board, reflected on what he considered "a significant boost to our industry".

He said the States Assembly had made "a landmark decision" in November 2024 when members unanimously voted to increase funding for the marine and rural sector.

Mr Le Maistre said: "This decision, championed by deputy Steve Luce, was truly game-changing and demonstrated a unified vision of the future for agriculture in Jersey.

"Equally impactful was the reintroduction of the agricultural loan scheme, which is critical for enabling farms to reinvest in infrastructure.

"This investment is essential for improving productivity and ensuring our operations are equipped to meet the challenges of the future."

Mr Perchard said he had recently invested in a new milking parlour

Mr Perchard agreed and said the government commitment had "rejuvenated the confidence in the dairy industry".

He recently bought a brand new milking parlour for his 300 Ansom Jersey cows.

"We've turned a corner, we're a good news story for agriculture," he said, "but the big but is it's reliant on government support."

Mr Perchard says the new loan system has restored dairy farmers' confidence

He said the industry's "number one challenge" was where the next generation of farmers would come from.

Mr Perchard's grandparents bought the farm in 1957 and he said "there's no way a young couple could buy us out".

"Barriers to entry are huge and insanely high," he said and pointed to the high land prices, which he said had been inflated by the competition from the island's potato growers.

"We need a government scheme offering loans to attract young people and enable them to start a small unit."

He said he thought the dairy farming sector should market itself to young entrants along health and lifestyle angles.

Mr Perchard added farming needed a different skillset these days and was an ideal occupation for people interested in technology and those with digital and IT skills.

Artificial intelligence would be "massively important" for dairy farmers, for example, to visually identify the cows, weigh them and check their overall health, he explained.

The key to attracting anyone into dairy farming, he concluded, was "offering a business opportunity that'll deliver enough profit for a good lifestyle".