AN AGRICULTURE leader says East Lancashire farmers fear Britain’s first ‘mega-dairy’.
NFU East Lancashire secretary Andrew Rothwell said members felt ‘trepidation’ at the prospect of 3,800-cow Nocton Dairies, planned to be built in Lincolnshire.
David Barnes, whose farm in Bashall Eaves, near Clitheroe, is already the UK’s largest diary site, is one of the developers behind Nocton, which is modelled on large-scale US farms.
Mr Rothwell said: “The farmers I have spoken to view Nocton with some trepidation because they believe it could spell the end of the family farm.
It is a concern but the proposal comes down to economies of scale.” However, Mr Rothwell said a mega-dairy could ‘not be replicated’ in East Lancashire because of land availability.
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