Why the 25p pinta could kill our #dairy farms: Supermarket price wars and cheap foreign imports spell doom for #farmers

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Every day for the past three decades, Sue and Tom Flowers have risen at 4.45am to begin milking their 500 Holstein Friesian cows on their 370-acre dairy farm near Buxton, Derbyshire.
 
They do not finish tending to them until 10.30pm.
 
‘Cows don’t allow you to take a rest,’ says Sue. ‘We work 365 days a year.’
 
Tom, 65, and Sue, 52, took over Old House Farm from Tom’s father 30 years ago. With the help of their son Edward, 26, they produce 7,000 litres of milk a day, which is sold to a nearby dairy processor and distributed to retailers around the country.
 
The couple hope Edward will continue the family business when they retire. But they are worried. Despite putting in 18-hour days, Sue and Tom are struggling. They receive 33¼p per litre of milk — which, says Sue, is barely enough to cover the cost of producing it.
 
‘We scrimp and save, mend and make do, but I don’t know why we should be under such pressure,’ she says.
 
Such is the situation faced by thousands of British dairy farmers. Two decades of relentless price slashing by supermarkets has seen them unable to break even — let alone earn a living. In 2012, the average dairy farm was losing around £40,000 a year.
 
Sue has seen dozens of her friends in the farming community simply give up and seek a different way of making a living. The number of dairy farms has plummeted from more than 34,000 in 1996 to just over 10,000 today.
 
British dairy products are being replaced by cheap, often poor quality, foreign imports. As recently as 2008, Britain was entirely self-sufficient in dairy produce. Now, British-produced goods account for only 80 per cent of the market. Some £2.6 billion worth of dairy products are imported annually.
 
And, to the horror of farmers, things are about to get worse. Last Monday, Tesco — which has seen its profits tumble, faced with competition from budget stores Aldi and Lidl — fired the opening salvo in a supermarket price war that is almost certain to see milk prices falling again.
 
The grocery giant announced it would be cutting the price of its four-pint (2.27 litres) milk bottles by an unprecedented 39p, from £1.39 to £1. The price of a six-pint (3.41 litres) bottle of milk is down from £1.99 to £1.48.
 
Source: Daily Mail

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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