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Original poster

To think the retailers can't have it both ways - Milk Prices

63 replies

DadfromUncle · 04/08/2015 22:32

Extensively reported today is the PR parrot line that "retail prices have nothing to do with what is paid to farmers" - and also that retailers pay a fair price. So which is it?

Once they have driven all the farmers out of business I assume we'll air-freight all our milk from Russia or something?

OP posts:
CarlaJones · 05/08/2015 09:40

Can anyone confirm whether tesco pay a fair price?

Chchchchanging · 05/08/2015 09:44

Tesco pay above cost so yes 'good'
Tesco
Sainsbury's
Wait rose
M&s
All classed as good or pay a fair price and have supply chains

WorktoLive · 05/08/2015 09:48

[[http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2015/01/13/dairy-farms-could-be-forced-out-of-business-because-of-falling-milk-prices-warns-shropshire-farmer/ This] link says Tesco, Sainsburys and M&S are the best and most others much most major supermarkets but not the Co-op that I am interested in.

Anyone near a Booths can buy fair trade milk from them. I think that if all supermarkets did certified fair trade milk, a lot of people would buy it. At the moment, there is that much variation in price and in many cases, we don't know that, if we pay more for milk, the farmer gets more - often it's the retailer or the processor that picks up the extra profit.

WorktoLive · 05/08/2015 09:49

Clickable link

museumum · 05/08/2015 09:51

Ever since fair trade chocolate coffee and bananas have been available I've been wanting fair trade milk and meat. I don't understand why the fair trade mark won't take this on? I'm sure the dairy monopolies are no worse than the coacoa or coffee beans monopolies?

YeOldeTrout · 05/08/2015 09:59

price soared last yr so Farmer's ramped up production capacity & now price has dived. Free market economy works badly for some staples, this is a perfect example.

LittleBearPad · 05/08/2015 09:59

Sorry Tesco!

QforCucumber · 05/08/2015 10:04

Cravendale which Is produced by arla offers fair trade pricing as far as I'm aware. Arla is owned by farmers rather than an external organisation

Elsashmelsa · 05/08/2015 10:04

I saw this on the news today and I was interested to see how many people, if asked, would be prepared to pay more for milk. I would if I thought the Farmers could start to make a profit and therefore continue to supply us with British milk.

But we buy extra stuff that we don't necessarily need (crisps, chocolate etc) so do have a bit of extra money to be able to do that. The price of everything else goes up, an extra 5 or 10p on milk I don't think would break anyone's bank, but that may well be a sweeping statement because I don't know the personal circumstances of everyone.

CarlaJones · 05/08/2015 10:08

Thanks for the replies re Tesco. Would be good to know which shops don't pay a fair price.

BikeRunSki · 05/08/2015 10:14

I like in dairy farming country and get my milk delivered straight from the farm (it is pasteurised and bottled on site), 3 miles away. I am very much in the minority of my local friends a neighbours, yet they all protest when farmers sell off another field to developers!

One neighbour refuses to use the milkman because they only use Cravendale because it is fresher. Err. Our doorstep milk is in the cue at 4pm and in our doorstep by 11pm! Sure it costs more than Tesco milk, but the money is going back into our local economy. I can't afford that many ethics, but this is a no brainer to me.

averylongtimeago · 05/08/2015 10:14

co op milk for the co op point of view.

I have lived in dairying areas for most of my adult life - although I'm not a farmer.
Dairy farmers are struggling because the price paid by the big dairy companies is less than the cost of actually producing the milk in the first place. If the farmer refuses to accept the low price, they can't sell their milk.

There is little competition between the middlemen, it is not in their interest to pay more. Add into this the supermarkets price wars, using milk and dairy produce as loss leaders, consumers shopping purely on price and the increasingly large amount of imported milk and milk products used in food production and you can get some idea of the pressure on the UK dairy farmers.

Sell it locally, direct from the farm? Any one who listens to the Archers knows how that panned out for Ed! Years ago you could [and I did] buy raw milk bottled on the farm, green top. Increasingly tough hygiene regulations and rules introducing compulsory pasteurisation [to eliminate TB and brucellosis amongst other nasties] have made direct selling from the farm an expensive option.
Diversify? Just how big is the market for fancy ice cream/yoghurt/cheese? Not big enough to save the industry, I think.

We are faced with a choice: carry on as we are and see the UK dairy industry reduce drastically or support farmers by paying a fair price for milk.

typetytypetypes · 05/08/2015 10:16

I have been wondering about this too for some time. We currently buy the Duchy from Waitrose milk, it's £1.85 for 4 pints (regular milk is £1/4pts), but I don't know if this is just to do with production. We like that it's non-homogenised but it says it supports farmers or something like that, though I've no idea to what extent. We buy Jersey milk if we can't get Duchy but also no idea how that works.

Is there anywhere that gives info on this?

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 05/08/2015 10:20

And what will happen to the farms? Don't they'll build houses on it as you wouldn't want to live there... not transport links and it is highly unlikely that any developer would build a nice road, dual carriageway etc with each development.

Actually, developers would indeed build a new road and other local network upgrades eg install new roundabouts/junctions to ensure traffic could reach their new development. It's part of the deal to ensure planning permission - they frequently offer to upgrade local roads. Besides, in the UK most farms are not miles and miles from local transport links.

sleepyhead · 05/08/2015 10:22

I will gladly pay more for milk. £1 for 4 pints is ridiculously cheap, however:

  • I would want some sort of legislation/transparent scheme/labeling so I knew 100% that farmers were benefitting from any increase
  • I would want guarantees on welfare ( having said that, I'm fairly fuzzy about dairy cattle welfare issues and how much of a problem it is)
  • It would need to be mainstream for me to change my shopping habits. ie local shops and supermarkets, not online, subscription, or farm shop.

Some sort of fairtrade mark would seem simplest.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 05/08/2015 10:23

Meant to say that I would happily pay a fair price for milk to support the farmers.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 05/08/2015 10:24

Yy to Sleepyhead's post. If it wasn't mainstream it wouldn't make enough of a difference to save the farmers anyway.

PourquoiTuGachesTaVie · 05/08/2015 10:28

It's all v well saying buy from tesco/sainsburys/waitrose etc but a lot of people will be shopping in aldi and asda because they just can't afford to go to the other supermarkets.

Superexcited · 05/08/2015 10:38

I do agree that people are shopping in aldi and asda because that is where they can afford to shop but if those that could afford to pay a bit extra for their milk bought everything except their milk in asda and aldi and then went to the other shops for their milk which pay a higher price to farmers then aldi and asda might soon need to have a rethink on their milk pricing and what they pay to the farmers.
I do understand that some people can't get to more than one shop though.

WorktoLive · 05/08/2015 10:40

Milk is £2 for 2 x 4 pints in the Co-op and those are probably accessible to a lot more people.

They claim on their website that they pay a fair price to farmers who supply them.

Chchchchanging · 05/08/2015 11:01

But that's why the other supermarkets are cheap; they're not supporting UK producers in same way
I realise if you're restricted for income of location that won't help you but if you had also and Sainsburys by each other for example you could split your shopping if you chose to

Trapper · 05/08/2015 11:12

Some interesting data on herd size, production, imports and farm-gate prices here: researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN02721/SN02721.pdf

MaidOfStars · 05/08/2015 11:14

Is it possible to get money to farmers outside of the milk production line? I'm not sure what I'm asking....um....

I guess: are there other products that are available, at a premium price, that we could buy more easily than fair cost milk, which would benefit dairy farmers (and not the big dairy companies).

123Jump · 05/08/2015 11:23

Sorry if this is a very stupid post, as I am a city girl and don't understand this issue,although I know it has been going on for years.
Isn't it a supply and demand issue? There is too much milk, that is why it costs so little?
Couldn't farmers be helped to switch to something other than dairy?
Something is worth what it is worth at the end of the day. If there is too much of something it won't be valuable. This is how it works for everything, should milk be different?
I would happily pay more for milk, and hate seeing farmers at such a loss.

MaidOfStars · 05/08/2015 11:34

Shops deliberately underprice milk - make a loss sometimes - in order to attract shoppers. It's one of the most basic items for most households and cheap prices will lure people in. This called a 'loss leader'.

So if the supermarkets want to sell cheap, they force cheap purchase prices from farmers (to minimise their own loss).

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