Milk price fall shuts one in ten dairy farms: More than 1,000 forced to close over the past three years after cost dropped by 30%

Almost one in ten small dairy farms have closed in the last three years amid a squeeze on milk prices. By Sean Poulter Consumer Affairs Editor For The Daily Mail
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A supermarket price war and a glut of milk across Europe has driven down the earnings of producers.

The lower price is leading to the establishment of new mega dairies, populated by cows that rarely get out to chew the cud.

Farmers warned of a milk glut and lower prices last year after the EU ended a quota system that had restricted production for 30 years.

More than 1,000 small farms have closed in England and Wales since June 2013, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

The AHDB said some farmers were still paid about 10 pence a litre less than the cost of production, despite protests by the National Farmers’ Union.

The board said North Yorkshire had lost 89 farms – more than one in seven – over the period, while Berkshire had lost seven of its 22 farms.

Yorkshire dairy farmer Jeremy Holmes said traditional dairy farming was ‘in a mess’, with ‘far too much milk on the market’.

He said he had survived by buying a vending machine to sell raw milk on his farm at Denby Dale near Huddersfield at £1 per litre – about three times the price paid by supermarkets.

Some supermarkets, such as Morrisons, have launched milk lines that are guaranteed to pay extra to farmers.

At the same time the farmer-owned dairy Arla has teamed up with Asda and is launching a £1.50 four-pint carton of milk, where 25p will go back to the dairy co-operative.

David Christensen, whose Oxfordshire farm produces 5,000,000 litres of milk for Arla a year, told the BBC: ‘It has been really tough over the last two years, supply and demand have really been out of balance.

‘We have found that 60per cent of consumers are willing to pay more for their dairy products if they know that money will go directly back to the farmers.’

Despite the closure of farms, the number of dairy cows in the UK increased by around 113,000 between 2013 and 2015 with the growth of the mega dairies, according to figures from the House of Commons library.

The report said the average herd size had risen as smaller producers left the industry. During that period, milk prices fell by about 30per cent.

The report said UK milk production had increased by 8per cent between 2013 and 2014, mainly due to a higher yield per cow.

Source: DailyMail

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3687333/Milk-price-fall-shuts-one-ten-dairy-farms-1-000-forced-close-past-three-years-cost-dropped-30.html

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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