So how much would you pay for milk?

[IWanders]

All the articles on the news is making me think, if the supermarkets put the price of milk up how much would you be happy to pay? I don't like the thought of harming our dairy industry and making more families struggle.

Personally I would be happy as long as milk didn't go above say £3.50 on 6 pints which is the size I buy.

It would mean having to cut back on other things to compensate but I am curious as to how much others think milk should cost?

Good dairy farming is "inefficient" though. You can't factory farm cows without damaging them.it's a combination of feeding cows (price for this depends on weather for one) rearing and milking them. You need to be on top of lots of variables to produce milk.

I pay about 25p a pint (4 pints at Iceland), so that's roughly 44p a litre.

As I understand it, milk is costing the farmers around 31p (per litre) to produce but they are being expected to accept around 28p

What I find difficult is how similar 4 pint container costs 118p in other supermarkets (Aldi, Asda, Tesco near me), though if I buy 2x 4 pints at Asda they drop the cost to 100p per container.

I would be happy for the farmers to get 66p a litre from me, so long as the additional costs were kept static (distribution etc). If additional charges are pushed up in line (for no extra effort) it is simply profit making off the back of farmers, themselves struggling to avoid bankruptcy, closure, and possible suicide.

The farmers are the ones who deserve extra income after being on the break-even point for so long, and 50% would help them run with better animal welfare, more timefor animals to spend in fields, and farmers not needing to slaughter immediately the 'yield' reduces by a few per cent, etc, as the income would allow a degree of flexibility.

Sorry sieglinde "I always buy milk at either Waitrose or Tesco for this very reason."

Not sure what it was a response to, nor what the reason was, so would appreciate some enlightenment when you have time...

"I think what Asda and its sort are doing is so shortsighted that it shouldn't be allowed."

Last time I checked locally, Tesco and Asda both had 4 pints of milk at the same price (118p) so what is Asda (and its sort) doing that you so dislike, please?

I use my own. Cheap and cheerful!

Also, I find that if you slip in a measure of gin from time to time it helps to keep it all topped up as well keeping those noisy sh*ts quiet when you've just got to take some time for yourself!

Spread the love, StonerMom xoxo

I do now pay more, for branded milk, because of this. Do you think this makes a difference? I haven't a clue, but hope so.

"propping up inefficient dairy farmers is not the way forward."

I'm not sure it's "propping them up" - more "not exploiting"

also I value the contribution of family farms to our social fabric, I value them a lot more than some of the other stuff we subsidise

don't know much about this but if anyone can provide figures to contradict me, then fine - I resent subsidies to European farmers if we can't keep our own family farms in business

No idea how similar the challanges being faced by dairy farmers are here in BC, Canada, but no, I would really rather not pay any more that I am right now because I've just calculated that I currently pay the equivalent of 3.50GBP for a 4L jug of milk. Buying in any smaller quantities is extortionate!

Surely if the farmers put their heads together they could insist that no one sold under a certain price. We all like buying British milk so the consumer and farmer would win. #simplistic.

I don't even think too much of the price increase would reach the consumer, the supermarkets have to sell it and perhaps they'll have to doit formless profits......they are hardly struggling. Or we could all buy directly, where possible.

I pay about 75p a litre for non-homogenised (skin-of-cream) full cream organic milk and I am happy to do so. This seems a fair price to me. We get through about 7l a week and I feel nourished and enriched by our milk. It seems ok to spend (approx 10%) of our food budget on milk as it's at least 15% of our diet.

I haven't read the whole thread here so probably repeating, but to my knowledge milk is one of the more profitable areas of sales for supermarkets as opposed to a loss leader, so why can't they just suck it up and reduce their profits to give the milk farmers a decent wage and a chance to keep things sustainable in the long term. Honestly, these supermarkets drive me crazy monopolising everything with little scruples

Who is really paying the price for cheap milk?

The cow.

This poor mother has her new born calf taken away from her at a day old.

She goes through this process every two years, just so humans can drink the milk that should feed her baby.

I support the farmers and would pay a higher price for milk if it meant the farmers got it and not the greedy supermarkets!

I don't know what I actually think the price of milk should be but I do know it should be great enough that farmers can survive and make a fair living. Once they have the price that they need to do this then everyone else such as the supermarkets have to add their price on top and that's the price of milk!
The price should certainly not be so low that farmers are not able to make their businesses sustainable.

£1.05 for 2 pints of organic milk. And no I would not want to pay more, but I'd have no chouice

Quite right Dappleton!

Yes, I'd also like to know why Tesco and Waitrose are ethically better than Asda on this issue - not being snarky, I genuinely don't know.

I get my milk delivered by milkandmore and get the convenience of a regular supply plus I like supporting a firm that delivers rather than giving more of my money to a supermarket - as others have said, I would like to move away from this but it's hard to do when managing life with young children.

Milk is not an easy item to substitute in one's diet, so for all that people are financially squeezed and don't want to pay more, they will have to and will have to buy less of something else. It's not exactly fair to say 'well, the farmers will have to sell at a loss because consumers are strapped for cash'. And while I don't know the ins and out of the costing of the industry, it is accepted that the major supermarkets make MASSIVE profits. Whether or not they are profiting hugely on milk, out of farmer, consumer and seller, they are the ones who can most afford to take the hit, so I think they should. What's the line again: 'from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs'?

Many people are reluctant to give up milk as it has always been promoted as a wholesome, healthy drink, rich in calcium for strong bones. This is the milk myth and what those profiting from the sales of dairy products would like you to believe. Dairy products are absolutely not essential for optimum fitness.

Milk is an easy item to substitute in your diet. There are a range of cruelty free milks; soya, oat, rice milk, to name a few. Better for you, better for your child.
See; www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/vegetarianism/ALL/656/

eighties, the farming website - linked upthread - says they are better, but only barely. They at least pay the farmers cost price.

Ah yes just what the poor of the world need is the rich westerners eating up more soya to allow the soya kings to demolish more rainforest and put the subsitence farmers off their land so great tracts go to soya production with 1 or 2 workers per 1000ha compared to the hundreds who lived and worked that land before when europe could be providing our milk from european grassland and corn.

I can't imagine most people would be happy to pay more, regardless of the farmer's income and animal welfare issues. If the price goes up it goes up though, and a lot of people would probably find it hard to break the habit of buying/drinking milk.

I agree it's not essential though. I don't drink milk (horrible stuff IMO) and haven't since I was a child, so basically not since I've had a choice about it, and I am perfectly healthy and well-nourished. I don't believe children need cow's milk either. Maybe the families that would struggle with the higher prices just need to buy less? Some are consuming serious amounts, judging by all the huge 6-pint cartons you see people heaving into their trolleys at the supermarket.

The rich westerner's are eating the cows that eat the grain!
It takes 8 tons of grain to produce 1 ton of meat.
Whether the grain, grass or corn is from abroad or from the UK. It's still a waste of resources.

deninbtn
The rich westerner's are eating the cows that eat the grain!

Cows don't eat much grain. Mostly they eat grass.

It takes 8 tons of grain to produce 1 ton of meat.

Only if you assume that the cow is entirely grain-fed, which isn't the case. Cows eat grass.

Whether the grain, grass or corn is from abroad or from the UK. It's still a waste of resources.

We're "wasting" grass feeding it on cows? Who should we be feeding it to? Proselytising vegans?

You beat me to that flatpack. The 8 tons for one myth has been disproven over and over again.

Ephiny

I agree it's not essential though.

Define 'essential'.

Lactose tolerance appeared in humans about 10,000 years ago. The reason that lactose tolerance became so widespread is that the ability to drink milk confers an evolutionary advantage. People who drink milk have access to a year-round supply of protein and calcium that those who can't struggle to obtain. It's not just milk, of course. Cheese preserves milk for a long time and storing a food surplus is one of the many things that allowed humans to stop being hunter-gatherers and start being urbanised and 'civilised'. It allowed far greater population densities, allowed specialisation and allowed the growth of the first great Empires. And lactose tolerance led - indirectly - to a heap of whiny, rich first-world kids parading their countercultural 'lifestyle choices' by pretending that it's "unnatural" to drink milk.