Farmers stage new Muller blockade as dairy talks break down
Up to 300 farmers staged a fresh blockade of the UK's biggest yoghurt factory in Shropshire as talks aimed at resolving the long-running dairy crisis broke down.
The farmers staged a five-and-a-half hour wildcat protest at Market Drayton's Muller dairy amid renewed calls for fairer milk prices.
They have now been warned by Muller's boss that with their impromptu action over farm-gate milk prices the protesters are putting the country's dairy industry at risk.
The protest – using 12 diggers and tractors to blockade Muller and the Robert Wiseman plants on Monday night – came after talks broke down on increasing the price paid for milk, which was raised last week to 29p per litre.
The action caused disruption in the distribution of milk and supplies at both sites for six hours, from 6pm to midnight
Organisers from campaign group Farmers For Action said the blockades were decided after meetings with Muller chief executive officer Ronald Kers. But Mr Kers said: "We are committed to growing our business in Britain and will return a leading milk price to dairy farmers who supply us. We are midway through a collaborative project with farmers which aims to find a new way of valuing farm-gate milk.
"But far from reducing the amount of imported dairy product we are at risk of giving away Britain's share of the yoghurt market to competitors if our operations are repeatedly targeted by wildcat militant action of this kind.
"We have no issue with peaceful protests, but unlawful blockades which effectively close down our factory simply hand the impetus to companies who employ few in Britain and do not use milk sourced from British farmers."
However, the FFA say the blockades were not severe enough to seriously harm production at the Muller plant.
