Milk

[Kevin Milkins]

Its good to see the dairy farmers around the country fighting back to save their industry by buying up the milk stock of supermarkets and giving it away as a protest to the ridiculously low prices that they have driven the product.

When you consider the nutritional value of milk and the cost of production in relation to other products like beer for instance it would be insane to let this industry become another import market.

I hope this campaign will wake up the public to the plight of the farmers and realise that there future shouldn't be dictated to by supermarket giants.

[BetterTogether]

The supermarkets use the excuse there is a world excess supply of milk forcing prices down.

How many of us would willingly drink milk produced in another country then shipped here considering the vastly different animal welfare issues encountered in other countries.


The supermarkets should be paying a minimum of 28p a litre which is break even price if not a bit mor and supporting farmers instead of making milk out to be an item heavily discounted.

Same goes for other items UK farmers produce we should support them instead of letting the supermarkets play silly games with their livelihoods.

[Mr Z]

If only the cows could produce water insteadRestaurant sells bottled water for £26http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33783942

[Shaggy]

If only the cows could produce water insteadRestaurant sells bottled water for £26http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33783942

Happened here in Wick too! A local restuarant (new owners now so they aren't guilty) used to sell Tesco Spanish White Wine (£2.99) at £14 for the bottle or £5 a glass and had the cheek to present the bottle to you to show you what you were drinking. Talk about rubbing it in!

As to the milk issue, it is a total disgrace that farmers and other producers are held to ransom over the ridiculously low pricing of their products. The other side of the coin though is if the farmers are running at a such a loss then why and how are they still in business? I know if i was producing a product that would only sell at 1/4 of what it costs to make i would be producing something else or signing on at the dole. About time the Milk Marketing Board was brought back!

[Kevin Milkins]

Happened here in Wick too! A local restuarant (new owners now so they aren't guilty) used to sell Tesco Spanish White Wine (£2.99) at £14 for the bottle or £5 a glass and had the cheek to present the bottle to you to show you what you were drinking. Talk about rubbing it in!

As to the milk issue, it is a total disgrace that farmers and other producers are held to ransom over the ridiculously low pricing of their products. The other side of the coin though is if the farmers are running at a such a loss then why and how are they still in business? I know if i was producing a product that would only sell at 1/4 of what it costs to make i would be producing something else or signing on at the dole. About time the Milk Marketing Board was brought back!

It sometimes takes generations and hundreds of thousands of pounds to set up a modern dairy unit so getting up one morning and deciding to grow cabbages because they are fetching good money is not an option open to many.
I went to pound stretcher the other day because I run out of milk and I felt like a highwayman because it was 2ltr for a pound.

[Alrock]

...it is a total disgrace that farmers and other producers are held to ransom over the ridiculously low pricing of their products...

Why don't the farmers & producers hold the supermarkets to ransom & refuse to supply at such a low price, do the supermarkets really think that they could supply over 4 billion litres* of fresh milk (& how fresh would it be having to travel so much further) a year from imports alone?

*http://www.bottle2bottle.com/ff-milk.asp

[cptdodger]

I grew up with a Dairy at the end of my road, many years ago they used to keep their cows in a field across from my parents house ! (long gone, all houses now). We used to get our milk delivered every morning, if we ran out, we just walked to the dairy and got more. In those days we would'nt even think to get milk from a supermarket. The dairy itself is long gone and now houses, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I had milk delivered, just because that option is no longer there.

I agree with Alrock, they should all band together, and stop supplying them, for a week say, the supermarkets would soon relent. As much as I feel for the farmers, I have no choice but to buy my milk from a supermarket, and pay whatever they are asking, if you tried to pay more for milk, their tills would go into meltdown. So, as aware we all are as to how the pricing is unfair, there is not a lot the customer can do - it has to be the retailer.

[theone]

I agree with Alrock, they should all band together, and stop supplying them, for a week say, the supermarkets would soon relent.

Remind me, how did that strategy work out for the coal miners? It would be a brave step.


So, as aware we all are as to how the pricing is unfair, there is not a lot the customer can do - it has to be the retailer.

I'm not so sure about that.

The retailer will provide what the customer wants. If there's strong enough public feeling and desire to pay a minimum price for milk, I think the supermarkets would pay it. Think about 'fair trade' coffee and fruit. The supermarkets responded to pressure from the public to provide (in many cases only) ethically sourced produce. I personally would be happy to buy fair trade milk.

If there's enough public pressure, I believe the supermarkets will change.

The problem the farmers face is not changing the position of the supermarket, but convincing the public to demand action. Unfortunately for them, there's an awful lot of people who believe there's no such thing as a poor farmer.

[cptdodger]

Remind me, how did that strategy work out for the coal miners? It would be a brave step.

I can't comment about that, I honestly do'nt know enough about the coal miners situation, apart from what I saw on the news, family members pitted against family members and police.

The problem you have, in this day and age is, money is tight for an awful lot of families out there, with the need for food banks and so on, and with children still classed as living in poverty. With the best will in the world, I cannot see these people clamouring to pay more for milk.

Unfortunately, public pressure might take too long to have any effect on struggling farmers.

As for no such thing as a poor farmer, members of my family lost everything in 2001 with the outbreak of foot and mouth disease (along with thousands of other farmers) It was my mum's cousins, two brothers. It absolutely devastated them, financially and phsysically, they never got over the loss of their herd which they had built up over many years. They are no longer with us now, sadly and I truly believe the trauma of what happened shortened their lives, drastically.

[Alrock]

Remind me, how did that strategy work out for the coal miners?

Terribly... but that was not helped by the fact that the government knew well in advance that there was a strong possibility of a prolonged strike so had stockpilled plenty of coal beforehand...
By the very nature of milk you can't stockpile fresh milk, otherwise it won't be fresh anymore & I for one would not be happy with UHT, might last a lot longer but tastes foul.

[billmoseley]

Alrock i'm sorry to say it wouldn't work. they can ship milk from europe by the tanker load. back in the 90s when i was a dairy farmer we thought something similar.