Leader: Dairy Crest creaming off cash at high cost

First, Shropshire’s struggling dairy farmers are targeted. Now, the county’s small corner shops find themselves in the firing line too.

Dairy Crest’s controversial decision to raise the cost of milk it supplies to shopkeepers by 4p a litre is, at best, unfortunately timed and insensitive.

Many, however, will see it as something far more serious – a ruthless, blatant, and potentially fatal slap in the face for our under-pressure rural economy.

Dairy Crest has already reduced the price it pays farmers for their milk, and plans a second, crippling reduction next month.

Their reason . . . to allow the company to continue making money for its shareholders.

But what about the farmers, who have no-one to pass their production costs onto, and have been reduced to producing milk at a loss, with little prospect of a change in fortunes?

Dairy Crest, meanwhile, appears intent on trying to cream off cash at both ends; buying its milk more cheaply, and selling it on at a greater premium.

Small corner shops are the lifeblood of many a Shropshire village and market town. Dairy farmers are part of the very fabric of the county too.

Both, however, could soon find themselves on the endangered species list unless the dairy industry’s big hitters begin to appreciate the need to share the pain, and not just pocket the gain.

The price cuts have already proved too much for many dairy farmers, who have decided to call it a day.

This latest news will undoubtedly tip more of them over the edge.

Dairy Crest has to do something to stem the losses it reported last year. But its untimely ruthlessness could turn out to be many a trader’s downfall.