Stolen without kind permission of the BBC (but I do pay my licence fee, so I should be ok)
British dairy farmers being squeezed on the price of milk by the big supermarkets is nothing new, but in recent months it has reached such levels that the situation has now been labelled a crisis by farming leaders.
Tensions continue to mount between dairy farmers and certain supermarkets following claims many are now being paid less for their milk than it costs to produce.
The average milk price farmers received in June 2015 was 23.66ppl. This has dropped in the last 12 months by nearly a third. .
Tesco, Sainsburys, the Co-operative, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer all have schemes in place which pay a price consistently above the cost of production for milk. If you have a choice of where to buy your milk you might want to consider going to these supermarkets, over the likes of Morrisons, Aldi, ASDA and Lidl who do not.
However, we can blame the ‘evil’ supermarkets for this problem as much as we like, but it is consumer demand that is the real cause. Milk now costs less per-litre to buy than bottled water, which seems to be almost farcical. If we want to continue to have safe, clean and sustainable milk, produced in the UK, then we need to start paying a fair price for it.
At one point in time a politician, or celeb, knowing the price of a pint of milk was the litmus test for how ‘in touch’ they were with the everyman. Now it looks like we all live in a society where nobody knows the price of a pint of semi-skimmed.
Support our hard working Dairy farmers!
I pay 81p a PINT from Dairycrest to have it delivered, there is too big a gap between the price in supermarkets and that of doorstep delivery.
We use a local independent milkman and we’re pleased to pay more knowing that the money goes straight to local dairy farmers. I’m always trying to convince friends and family to use them and get so frustrated when they say the milk’s too expensive. It’s not, it’s the supermarkets that are too cheap. If the public continue to insist on low milk prices, the British dairy farmers will go out of business. Aside from anything else, we save money because we get exactly the right amount of fresh milk brought to our door everyday, so we never find ourselves having to dash to the supermarket which would undoubtably result in a few impulse buys (cake, beer, CDs etc.).
It’s not only fresh milk, but that used in yoghurt, deserts, sauces and cheese. I guess farmers get an even worse deal on industrial supply.
My wife and I always try to buy British products first even though they might cost a few pence more but we can be more certain of the quality. A dairy farm closes down every day which just makes more land available for house building. Look for the red tractor !
We buy milk from a local producer ( I can take you to see the cows if you like) it costs a little more but, I know where it comes from, who bottled it, and who delivered it. This never mind the quality feel the width has got to stop. Perhaps our leaders could introduce a policy that ends this scandal. Just saying its a global market is rubbish. If you buy your milk from abroad, ask where did it come from and under what conditions was it produced and where? I’ll stick to the proper deal!