Fears Over Approaching Meltdown on UK Dairy Farms
20 September 2006
Commenting today (Wednesday) on the open letter to The Prime Minister setting out the dire plight of UK milk producers, BVA President Dr Freda Scott-Park, herself the wife of a dairy farmer, echoed the concerns expressed.
“We ourselves” she said “have had to explore every conceivable form of diversification in order to ensure the future of our small organic diary herd. Despite producing quality organic milk and selling organic beef from crossbred calves at Farmers' Markets, 10 years of small or no surpluses have meant that there has been little investment in the fabric of the farm and holiday accommodation would appear to be the only way to ensure the survival of our own small family run farm.
“For non-organic producers, whose milk price is approximately 10 pence per pint, the situation is grim; the belt can only be tightened so far and whereas every other business providing services to the farm can put up their costs, dairy farmers have to accept a fixed farm gate price for their milk that is lower than their production costs.
“I wholeheartedly endorse the concerns outlined to The Prime Minister by the signatories to the letter, which includes BVA Honorary Members Lord Plumb of Coleshill DL and Lady Winterton MP and join with them in calling on Government and consumers to redress the situation before the UK becomes totally reliant on imported milk.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors
1. For further information please contact the BVA Press Office on 020 7636 6541, Dr Freda Scott-Park on 07739 046947 or email media@bva.co.uk.
2. The text of the letter is as follows:
Dear Prime Minister
APPROACHING MELTDOWN ON UK DAIRY FARMS
We write this open letter as informed observers to express our deepest concern at the plight of UK milk producers. Family-run dairy farms have for centuries shaped the rural areas of western Britain and Northern Ireland. They produce some of the highest quality milk in the world. Their crossbred calves provide a substantial proportion of UK beef and the vast majority maintain and manage our countryside to the highest standards.
In recent years they have had to cope with BSE, Foot and Mouth Disease, Bovine TB and a growing burden of bureaucracy and paperwork. Both government and milk buyers demand that they farm in compliance with ever increasing regulation. Their reward? Their reward is a farm-gate milk price some 30% lower than it was 10 years ago and little different than it was 20 years ago. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of their production costs. Increased energy costs and spiralling fertiliser prices have already hit home. The recent drought has resulted in fodder shortages and significantly increased feed prices. Despite substantially higher production costs, farm gate milk prices continue to fall. Time is rapidly running out for our hard-pressed dairy farmers.
Today UK milk producers receive approximately 10 pence per pint for milk that costs 11.5 pence per pint to produce. The same milk retails for at least 27 pence per pint in the major supermarkets or up to 48 pence per pint on the doorstep. Production costs have been pared to the bone and there is little or nothing that family farms can do to achieve further savings.
Put simply, the balance of power within the supply chain is weighted entirely in favour of the large retailers, with a relatively weak processing sector competing to meet their demands. The individual milk producer has no bargaining power at all.
If Society chooses to ignore this gross imbalance of power we will rapidly witness the demise of the family-run dairy farm. They will be replaced by a small number of industrial milk factories that will contribute nothing to our countryside. Worse still, we could end up importing our entire milk supply with all the attendant strategic risks and environmental damage caused by increased "food miles".
Farmer-led protests to the milk processors and retailers have achieved little. The only voice that the retailers choose to hear is that of their consumers. If we wish to retain our family-run dairy farms with all that they bring to our countryside, consumers and Government need to speak out loud, speak out clear and speak out now.
Yours sincerely
David Hughes BSc(Hons) FBIAC
Farm Business Consultant
Norman Buxton NDA, Dip Ag
Chairman, Datag Farm Management Systems