Dairy Evolution NeXt Network (DEX) - A Network for the Exchange of Knowledge and Expertise in the UK and Ireland Dairy Sectors

The Context of the Research:

Common challenges exist for the UK and ROI dairy industry, where they have a long history of collaboration. In the UK, exports of agri-food products accounts for over 18 billion euro annually. Similarly, in Ireland, exports are worth 12 billion euro.

Both countries import and export over 4 billion euro of agri-food produce to each other every year. However, recent shocks such as Brexit and COVID-19 have questioned both countries' international supply chains, trade and funding mechanisms. Brexit has major implications for the dairy industry on the island of Ireland, given the highly integrated nature of the supply chain between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Furthermore, increasing consumer interest in plant-based substitutes highlights the need for innovation and developing market-oriented added-value products. Market challenges will result in the need for dairy farmers and producers to rethink their business models and to develop new sustainable solutions for uncertain business conditions. Prior research acknowledges challenges facing agri-food innovation networks, in particular the skills shortages agri-food firms currently face, which impact their ability to acquire and utilise information and learning from the marketplace and respond proactively to market threats.

There have been calls for research to examine the entrepreneurial skills necessary for farmers to compete and survive. Furthermore, limited research exists on how agri-food firms can engage in business model innovation in times of uncertainty and crisis. No research to our knowledge exists on how the agri-food sector can recover from crises.

Aims and Objectives: The project has 3 main objectives:

Objective 1: To develop a sustainable network of UK and ROI social science researchers to identify common research priorities and to promote the sharing of research ideas and new methodologies in relation to knowledge exchange for innovation within the dairy farming sector (in the context of significant market changes);

Objective 2: To undertake a scoping study to compare the current and potential forms of knowledge exchange and collaboration among dairy farmers within the UK and ROI and to identify the entrepreneurial, innovation and digitisation skills (and skills gaps) among those dairy farmers;

Objective 3: To build multi-actor networks with non-academic partners to inform research priorities, thus ensuring the sustainability and utilisation of the network in the long-term. Potential Applications and Benefits:

The DEX Network will provide value through bringing together multidisciplinary experts and industry stakeholders to identify industry challenges and co-create priority research themes that will create significant impact. Evidence will be provided to support the exchange of best practices and cross-fertilisation of policies between UK and ROI national agri-food support systems (e.g. national Rural Development Programmes).

To ensure users will benefit from the DEX Network, four Work Packages (WPs) will bring together the research strengths of the four applicants: Policy and Support (Dundalk), Sustainable Business Models (Ulster), Entrepreneurship and New Product Development (Cork); and Digital Innovation (Exeter). In each WP, a one-day Workshop will be held in each applicant's organisation (1 in Northern Ireland, 1 in England and 2 in ROI).

Users will benefit from the knowledge exchange during and following Workshops (presentations, case studies, informal network building). It is anticipated that this will lead to user impact in the areas of innovation and diversification strategies. Beyond the Workshop participants, Workshop content will be disseminated to the wider community of academics and industry stakeholders through summary reports and podcasts, in order to maximise the reach of the project.