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Springtime saw more than 1,500 people attend around 100
Great Milk Debate events which took place across the country.
The Great Milk Debate
In a campaign to raise awareness
of issues facing dairy farmers, the
National Federation of Women’s
Institutes (NFWI) and National
Farmers’ Union (NFU) organised
a number of national events.
The Great Milk Debate was launched
in London with a debate at Local
Government House in Westminster at
10.30am on 24 April 2007.
The panel included: Fay Mansell, NFWI
Chair; Peter Kendall, NFU President;
Justin King, Chief Executive of
Sainsbury’s; Rt. Hon David Curry,
Chairman of Dairy UK; Sir Don Curry,
(Chair of the Sustainable Farming &
Food Delivery Group); Daniel
Kawczynski, MP, Chair of the
All Party
Parliamentary Group for Dair y
Farmers;and Deb Warren,
dairy farmer
and WI member.
The debate’s aim was to bring dairy
farmers, consumers, milk processors
and retailers together to debate the
crisis facing the British dairy industry
and find solutions.
Fay Mansell, NFWI Chair said, “British
dairy farmers are struggling to survive.
Many WI members are farmers
themselves or have seen the impact
that dairy farmers leaving the business
has on their communities. We must
take urgent action to halt the decline
of dairy farming in this country and
stop our communities and the
countryside suffering as a result. ”
The Great Milk Debate will give
everyone, from the farmer in rural
Devon to the London consumer who
buys milk in a supermarket, the
opportunity to suggest how farmers,
processors, retailers and consumers
can all receive a fair deal.
Peter Kendall, NFU President said:
“Dairy farming is hugely important to
Britain. Milk is a vital food staple but
more than that dairy farming helps
shape our countryside and underpins
thousands of jobs. . ”
However, on average three dairy
farmers leave the industry every day
as
they lose the battle to make a profit
from producing milk in the face
of
low milk prices, rising energy costs
and an unbalanced supply chain.
The Great Milk Debate reinforces Why
Dairying Farming Matters. It raises
awareness of the very real problems
being faced in the sector and calls for
sustainable solutions.
The future of British dairy farming
affects people, the environment,
countryside, food quality and security,
local communities and also, the wider
economy.
Farmers are paid an average of 18
pence per litre (ppl) today, compared
with 24. 5ppl ten years ago. The cost of
production has risen in those ten
years, so that the average dairy farmer
is now making a loss of more than 3p
on every litre of milk that leaves the
farm. During the same period, retail
margins have risen from 3ppl to
around 16ppl.
In 1995, there were over 28,000 dairy
farms in England and Wales. By the end
of 2006 there were 13,000. A recent
survey conducted by the Milk
Development Council of dairy
farmers’intentions found that a further
16% of dairy farmers plan to leave
within the next two years and that
production could fall by as much as
900 million litres, or 7%.
WI members voted at the NFWI AGM
in 2005 to raise public awareness
of
the unfair difference between the
retail prices of milk and the price
paid
to the farmer. The NFWI has been
campaigning on the issue since
summer 2006.
To find out more about the Women’s
Institute, visit their website at
www.thewi.org.uk
BREAKING NEWS!
As we go to press, Tesco has unveiled two new measures to help increase the price UK dairy farmers receive for their milk. In the first instance, Tesco said it would offer direct contracts to about 850 farmers, paying them 22p per litre, well above the current market average. While this milk will not be any more expensive for consumers, Tesco is also launching a new‘localchoice’ milk. Sourced from farms near the stores where sold, it will cost more, but offer higher returns for smaller farms. |
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