On World School Milk Day, the NFU is urging the Government to make a commitment that school children will still have access to a milk scheme post Brexit.

NFU dairy board chairman Michael Oakes, who’ll be attending a school in Birmingham today, said it’s vital departments such as Defra and the Department of Health help promote the importance of children enjoying a nutritional glass of milk on a daily basis.

Mr Oakes and NFU Vice President Guy Smith will be visiting Percy Shurmer Academy in Birmingham to talk to pupils about dairy farming, milk production and the benefits of drinking milk.

First launched 17 years ago by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, World School Milk Day is a celebration of the health benefits of school milk programmes around the world.

The NFU recognises the importance of school milk not only in providing nutritious dairy products for our children but also for helping to develop the consumption habits of the future.

Michael Oakes said: “Currently schools in England and Wales can sign up to the EU School Milk Subsidy Scheme that offers milk for schoolchildren of various ages.  Following Brexit, it’s extremely important that Government, both through Defra and the Department of Health, continue with a domestic school milk scheme. As important as simple, subsidised school milk is the need for children to receive education about the nutritional benefits of dairy products and an understanding of dairy farming,

“In a post-Brexit world we are calling on Defra to strive to provide milk and education to the maximum number of children. For instance in 2013/14, of the 9,826,000 children eligible to participate in the EU School Milk Scheme, in the UK only 1,193,563 did. We urge Defra to better promote and encourage uptake of current and future school milk schemes.”

Defra will consult on a new UK School Milk Scheme in the autumn. To help inform lobbying efforts and to form part of our response to the consultation, the NFU has created a postcard survey for NFU members to hand out to their local schools. The postcard prompts schools to consider providing milk for their pupils, looks at current uptake and challenges of the EU scheme and assesses demand for a future UK scheme.

We are asking schools to complete the survey and either post a hard copy back to NFU HQ or fill in the survey online here.