Farm campaign group staging new protest in milk price row

Farmers For Action is planning a meeting at 8pm at Market Drayton Livestock Market as part of its campaign against tumbling milk prices.

The news comes after the campaign group warned of further action outside some of the country's biggest dairies, including Market Drayton-based Muller Wiseman.

Those who tend livestock and crops are not just essential to the economic well-being of our region, they are also fundamental to its very fabric.

The criss-cross of fields that dominate our rural county are maintained by our farmers. Without them, our local economy, environment and quality of life would be diminished.

So as a region, we should be supportive of the fight being waged by hard-hit dairy farmers, who are struggling to make ends meet.

As supermarkets battle to force prices down, dairy farmers are struggling to keep afloat. The pressures of supply in the global market and price wars between retailers are having a catastrophic effect on their businesses.

It is not gilding the lily to foresee a future when dairy farming in our county is altered beyond all recognition. And it is not difficult to see that such an outcome will be detrimental to this region.

It seems that dairy farmers are finally being listened to on the national stage. That may well be because the election is looming. However, they must not tire of making their voices heard as they demand a fair price for a pint before their industry is irrevocably damaged.

The German firm has announced it will cut 1.75 pence per litre from the price it pays for milk on March 5, taking its standard rate to 24.15ppl.

But Farmers For Action has hit out at the cuts and has called on farmers to support the protests.

The group held a series of protests outside the milk processing plant during the end of last year with many of the events seeing hundreds of farmers at the entrance to the Muller base.

FFA member Paul Rowbottom said earlier this week that he wanted to see people "come out and show their support" because the whole community was currently in "a hell of a mess".

Roddy Catto, chairman of the Muller Wiseman Milk Group, which represents the company's suppliers, said that the company did not welcome a lower milk price, but that the board had worked hard to ensure March's milk price was still one of the best available.

He added that he looked forward to a "stabilisation of markets and a reversal in this downward and damaging trend".

Dairy Crest has already announced that its new price of between 23.2p and 25.1p per litre will remain unchanged until July.

First Milk has also held its prices, which are lower than Muller's at 22.7p to 24p.

To keep cattle well fed and looked after costs a farmer about 30p for each litre of milk produced and they say they cannot keep on producing milk at a loss.

Last month the action group called an open meeting at Bakewell Livestock Market in Derbyshire to discuss its plans for the year ahead.