farmers need a fair milk price

[cazboldy]

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cuts-in-milk-prices-will-cause-rise-to-consumers-say-farming-leaders-7935411.htm

something really needs to be done about this - the government need to step in and sort out these supermarkets - not just for milk, but to ensure ALL producers get a fair price for the goods they produce!

Does anyone know where Lidl source their milk from?

I meant to start a thread on this - is there anything we can do other than lobby our MPs? Or only buy milk from Waitrose and Co-op who I am hoping are a little bit more ethical? I'd happily pay the 4p a pint difference.

Apparently Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose & M&S have a fair pricing scheme (hope I have that correct). Morrisons & Asda do not & belatedly I realise neither can Lidl possibly have a fair pricing policy. So we can make a difference with our purchasing power.

I agree, I'd be more than happy to pay more, it is disgusting that (usually) relatively small producers are bullied into having to accept ridiculous prices for their produce. I tend to only buy from farm shops or Waitrose as on the whole they seem to try to support British farmers but I wish I could do more.

worldgonecrazy Sorry to tell you this but the co-op was singled out as one of the worst offenders on Radio 4 this morning.

MrJudgeypants thank you for highlighting that. I guess I just presumed they would be one of the good guys. I will write and tell them off!

Anyone else see the man from morisson's on BBC breakfast this morning?
He could not justify at all why farmers were not being paid a fair price for their milk and came across as a bit of a tit.
I think it is a disgrace that it costs more to produce than the farmers receive.
I am more than willing to pay a fair price for my milk if it sustains the dairy industry and keeps farmers in business.
What can we do though?

The problem is you are the intelligent minority. I bet when it came down to it most people would not be willing to pay a fair price for their milk.

And while supermarkets effectively control the farm gate price there's bugger all that can be done.

Supermarkets want to make things ever cheaper.

The government wants to make things ever cheaper.

The (average) consumer wants to make everything cheaper.

The only thing was can do as consumers is to buy direct from the farm gate as much as we can.

I've got many friends who are diary farmers and it's widely expected that this, combined with the awful weather affecting other crops/silage etc, is going to put a fair few farmers out of business. My closest friend is due to lose tens of thousands.

Most of them give their milk to Wisemans who have dropped their rates twice (I believe) recently :(

Farming minister Jim Paice didn't even know the price of a pint of milk paid by consumers when asked this morning on R4. That shows you how much interest the government takes in this issue.

If it were the case that there is a 'buyers cartel' forcing milk prices down by colluding then that is an issue for the Competition Commission.

However, if the supermarkets can source milk from mainland Europe for lower cost, as I believe is the case, because thE Euro has fallen in value versus the Pound Sterling then the competition is fair and yes some dairly farmers will go out of business.

I say this as an ex-farmer and periodic slumps in commodity prices do happen and farmers go out of business.

MoreBeta - yes but milk from Europe is of inferior quality, and produced to inferior standards and also more heavily subsidised, so can be produced more cheaply than milk from the UK

How can importing it be justified at all?

I am a herdsman's wife and the farmer that my dh works for has improved the farm over the last 2 years, invested in new housing for youngstock, and a new parlour..... now he has lost more than his repayments to the bank are going to cost him in the year.....

he can't knock down the new building, so other costs will need to be cut....

so is that going to be my dh's job? there are only so many corners left to cut!!

Why shouldn't farming be subject to the vagaries of the free market like every other industry? Farmers can also use all the marketing and legal tools available to everyone else to sell their product and protect their industry. Keeping costs low is part of the issue. What are farmers doing about this?

'yes but milk from Europe is of inferior quality, and produced to inferior standards and also more heavily subsidised, so can be produced more cheaply than milk from the UK'

Do you have any way of proving this?

haven't really got time to look, but I am sure if you google it you will find some info that concurs with me....

for instance I know that usually the acceptable cell count in Europe is 400, whereas here most producers would be fined for going over 250

mathanxiety I think farming should be given special protection, because whilst we can live without cars or clothing being freely available, food is a rather different issue. After all, a time when we had to rely on feeding ourselves as a nation is still within living memory.

I really think we should try to buy local produce even if it involves paying more, because in that way as well as supporting UK farmers you are also cutting down on all the traffic and pollution that involves. Most of us can afford an extra 4p a litre, which is all they are asking for.

We might be part of the EU, and very grateful for any benefits that brings us, but surely we don't want our own farmers to go out of business?

Btw Mathanxiety I am very wary of 'the vagaries of the free market' and the sink or swim liberal free trade economics that seem to have brought this country to crisis. No regulation = winner take all and survival of the fittest, whereas consumer direct action can support people who live and work and pay taxes here, thus contributing directly to our own economy - ie local farmers and shopkeepers rather than huge tax-avoiding multinational companies.

cazboldly - you make a very fair point about food standards. I believe it happens in the pork/bacon industry too. That to me is very wrong.

To impose tough standards on home produced milk and then let milk be imported to a lower standard clearly needs to be stopped if that is what is really happening.

However, the problem is that the dairy industry is not asking for fair application of standards but just asking for higher prices. It needs to get its message straight.

I might add that I do think we need higher food standards in the UK. That to me is the way to deal with a lot of public health issues like obesity.

It would also provide some protection against the 'race to the bottom' that inevitably kills off UK farmers still trying to produce decent quality food.

Having drunk plenty of both American (yikes) and Irish milk over the years, I can report that I am as healthy as can be expected...

I am by no means a raging capitalist (I was called an unreconstructed Marxist here on MN once) but I don't think farmers should be relying on the benevolence of government for their bread and butter, and no industry should expect that the goodwill of customers will last forever. What I suggest is the development of better branding, lots of marketing -- modern business has lots of tools to help squeeze the money out of consumers' pockets.

Is the British dairy farmer entitled to a living just because s/he produces British milk? Can the consumer be persuaded that British milk is preferable for whatever reason to something imported?
If food is a vital commodity, what is wrong with the concept of the collective farm?

I support my local dairy farmer by getting my milk delivered from a farm three miles away, in glass bottles the old fahioned way. No supermarket gets a look in, I don't add to the plastic bottle mountain and the bottles get washed and reused each time. (Smug emoticom).

I buy organic milk from a milk man under the thought that hopefully it will not be pumped full of chemicals that normal cows get, just because I don't wnat my girls drinking chemicals.

Can't say they don't get it elsewhere but I can try to reduce it.

How do milkmen/woman fair in all this?

I think it is disgusting that big companies can hold what are effectively a bunch of small family businesses to ransom like this. No-one should get paid less for a product than it costs to make, and if dairy farmers are forced to make cutbacks then how intensive must dairy farming become before it is profitable again? How terrible will the conditions get for both farmer and cow just so that the supermarkets can take a larger slice of profit?