AIBU not to support the British farmers

[WitchofScots]

My Facebook is full of people saying they don't mind paying more for milk because they support the British Farmers.

If milk is more expensive then that's going to deprive children from families on/below the poverty line of a healthy drink, fruit is expensive, organic meat is expensive, ditto vegetables but milk is relatively cheap.

I know when I was on a low income I got healthy start vouchers to get free milk and fruit and veg. They were fantastic as I used a lot of fruit and vegetables to make baby food for my DD. the thing. Is they do have these schemes for families on a low income so they shouldn't be priced out of having milk and healthy food just because the farmers get a fair price for their produce. I might be being a bit pie in the sky about it but I do believe in fairness

Dairy farmers are not being paid a fair price and many of them are going under.

I always buy Scottish produce when I can because I live in a rural area and I want to support the farming community and the people I know.

So it's acceptable to you that farmers have to sell their produce at a loss? What about their children? Is it OK for them to have to live in poverty?

We should support British dairy farmers because if we don't do something now there may not be an industry to support in years to come.

As an aside - Fruit is expensive?
Asda: punnet of nectarines 75p, 1kg of plums £1.50, 6 bananas 58p, 400g apricots 75p, 500g grapes £1.50.
An adult portion of fruit is 80g, so effectively £5.08 spent on purchasing 30 portions of fruit. that is not expensive.

It's not about the price we pay for milk it's about the price the retailers pay the farms. They need to run a sustainable business or they'll go bust and fresh milk will become more expensive which will hit the poorest hardest. Yabvvvu

Farms are not some faceless multinational. They are individual people with families that rely on their farming income.
If they lose their business then they lose their house and whole way of life. Is that OK for the children of farmers?

YABU! Farmers are paid pittance for their milk and many are going under. Blame the supermarkets not the farmers!

It would cost 3p a pint more, to pay the farmers what it costs to produce the milk. At 20 pints a week, that is 60p extra a week - not exactly unaffordable.

And if all our farmers go out of business, we will have to import all our food from abroad, and then it really WILL be unaffordable! Imagine how much a pint of milk will cost if it has to be shipped in from Europe. Not to mention the fact that it won't be as fresh as milk that comes from local farms.

YABVU

And shortsighted.

What about the children of farmers OP?
People who work outdoors need the calcium more than office workers like myself.
Considering how much Fair Trade has taken off , adding a few pence to the price of milk so that farmers can make some profit is fine with me.

I just came to say exactly what SDTG said (you beat me to it)

What an extraordinarily ignorant OP.

Indeed

Yabvvu. I am on a budget and shop at aldi and asda but I will not buy my milk from them. I buy my mill at sainsburys because they pay more to the farmers and the end cost to the customer isn't vastly different. I would happily pay an extra 10p per pint because I care about the British farming industry and I care about animal welfare.

OK, I was wrong. Thanks for the info. (has that happened on AIBU threads before?!)

I get my milk at Sainsbury's as well so I'm glad they pay the farmers more.

Good thread resolution!

YABVVU milk is cheap, we can all afford a few more pence so farmers get a fair price for their hard work, especially when many happily pay more for bloody bottled water!
It would be devastating for our country to loose oir dairy industry for the sake of pennies.

Surly that's uncalled for. We can't all know about everything and I expect there are issues that I care about which you know nothing about it.

Family farms are going out of business here in Scotland. Taking their place are big business concerns where the cows are kept inside all year round.
My family were dairy farmers going back to the year dot. My grandfather would be disgusted to see what is happening now.
Particularly obnoxious is a firm called Graham's Milk which pays a pittance to the farmer's. Mr Graham Senior is featured on a particularly sick making nostalgic ad atm. Shame on you.

It was on the radio earlier this week that there is an over-supply of milk right now which I guess pushes prices down, maybe we all need to drink more :-)

farmers not farmer's

Yes and if i posted and ignorant post about something you were ore knowledgeable of i would expect to be told (by pretty much all the responders) that i was an idiot and to go educate myself about that thing. Which clearly you need to do. Alternatively i could just not post ignorant, poorly thought out OPs and go beyond facebook for my information

YABU
Milk is a ridiculously low price and has barely increased in price for a decade. It is wholly unprofitable for farmer and a necessary staple. The price increase being asked for is marginal.

YAABU (you are also being unreasonable)
re: Fruit & Veg being expensive.
Someone else mentioned it but it's not. Frozen and tinned are both cheap and often excellent in terms of nutrients
www.aldi.co.uk/en/product-range/fresh-bakery/this-weeks-latest-super-6-fruit-veg-offers/

YABR (You are being Ridiculous)
"organic meat is expensive" - yes, but it is not the ONLY protein in the world available so I have no clue how this supports any kind of argument?

Also what SDGT said x 2.

To summarise: Don't join debate club