Star comment: Farmers' dream of fair price

Yet this is a dream that has been dashed because the price of milk is being cut again by dairy giant Muller Wiseman of Market Drayton.

It is now down to 25.9p a litre which is far below the price which dairy farmers were thinking of as being borderline sustainable just a few months ago.

In three months, the price has come down from 29p per litre.

Shropshire's dairy farmers are probably too much in shock to take it all in immediately but as soon as they digest the news they will feel that they have been kicked in the teeth.

It is a devastating blow at any time and coming just before Christmas adds to the psychological impact.

Muller Wiseman has been at the centre of farmers' protests, but as there are global market factors at work it is a bit like complaining about the weather.

In this case it is the economic weather which has caused the downturn.

The big question now is how many dairy farmers are going to be able to ride it out in the hope that at some stage the climate improves and the sun comes out once more.

Shropshire has already seen a number of dairy farmers throw in the towel.

In dark days like these you have to look to the future to sustain yourself in hope.

If you think that the story is going to have a happy ending, you will be more motivated to hang on.

There again, if it is looking like a long term, or permanent, depression in the milk market, you can hardly blame dairy farmers in Shropshire and Mid Wales if they cut their losses and bail out now.

If there were easy answers, they would have already been found.

For a county like Shropshire, which has agriculture at its heart to such an extent, this is a very grave issue with knock-on implications for the rest of the local economy and for the landscape itself.

The stronger and more robust concerns will be able to tough it out.

Those living on the margins may not.

This is a crisis which will hit farming families, ruin lives, and potentially rob Shropshire of a tradition.