Current Issue #4- The Falling Price of Milk

Throughout the UK many farmers run dairies which supply our supermarkets with a source of milk, however recently it has become ever more popular for supermarket chains to turn to importing milk from abroad for a cheaper price, threatening the local smaller farms which already struggle under immense pressure from the supermarkets. The average price of pint of milk is 49p, currently of this 49p the farmer receives 16p. On top of this if you consider the price of feeding the cows, providing them with bedding, paying milking staff, occasional vet call outs and TB testing the farmers actually begin to make losses on producing their milk.

The government has stepped in saying that they have secured a £5million grant to help support the rural sector and aid farmers in getting a fair price for the milk their livestock produce. There are still concerns however that if the situation of the milk market does not improve that many farmers will turn away from dairy farming to perhaps arable farming or otherwise go out of business. In turn this could affect the veterinary community in that the client base of a large animal vet could fall dramatically if a large number of dairy farmers decide to sell their animals for meat and finish their days milking.

A current oversupply of milk on the EU market is also causing the EU to refuse to help increase the price paid to farmers throughout Europe for their milk. Whilst in the UK the NFU are threatening to propose a boycott brands in which the milk processors are cutting the prices of the milk they're provided with to make products such as butter or cream, stating that if the public were willing to pay an extra 4p a litre for milk an other dairy products, farmers would be a lot better off and able to continue their businesses. The supermarket chain ASDA is offering its farmers though an increase for the price of their milk to cover the costs of cuts by other milk proccessors which could be as much as 2p a litre, whilst celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver are backing the campaign supporting dairy farmers.

In my opinion and as a consumer of dairy products myself, I feel that paying a little bit extra for milk is fair and justifiable. Having worked on a dairy farm myself through work experience I have seen the struggles farmers often face when trying to extract the milk, from cows with mastitis to just the sheer amount of labour that goes into producing the finished product. Overall I feel that upon this matter we should support our farmers more upon this issue in order that we can keep ourselves a self sufficient island without the need for imports from abroad and additionally to ensure that our countryside can still be a place to find dairy farms.

Sources:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/chefs-jamie-oliver-and-hugh-fearnleywhittingstall-urge-cutprice-milk-boycott-7959429.html
http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/news/local/dairy-farmers-pay-the-price-for-our-cheap-pints-of-milk-would-you-spend-4p-more-per-litre-to-help-farms-stay-in-business-1-4075460
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18792132
Image:http://bestparentever.com/2008/08/23/53-hating-cows/