Dramatic dairy

The 2017 Global Dairy Platform Annual Review contains some astonishingly big numbers about the scale of the dairy sector:

• 1 billion livelihoods supported, with

• 600 million people living on

• 133 million dairy farms;

• 10% of the world’s population directly dependent on dairy farming,

• 240 million employed directly and indirectly;

• 37 million dairy farms headed by women.

• 20% of the world’s agricultural land,

• 14% of global agricultural trade.

• 363 million dairy cattle,

• 816 million tonnes of milk produced a year;

• 44.4 litres of liquid dairy products consumed per person worldwide.

• All 17 United Nations sustainable development goals affected by dairy.

And yet:

• 2 cows is the average dairy herd size and

• 11 litres is the average daily yield of milk per farm.