Now farmers target discount retailers

Two of the smaller discount retailers will today find a crowd of dairy farmers on their doorsteps as the campaign for a fairer farm gate price for milk continues.

Farmers will meet outside Farmfoods and Iceland stores in Inverurie, Peterhead and Forfar in the North-east as part of their campaign to get a fairer price for their milk.

Shoppers at these premises will be given leaflets claiming the current price of milk does not leave the producer any profit at all while the retailers are “creaming off a large percentage of the final price”.

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Consumers at the various shops will also be asked to fill in forms supporting the farmers’ demands and these will be handed over to the shop manager at the end of the action.

Almost all the major supermarkets have announced they will increase the price of milk as a result of the pressure that has been put on them by the ongoing demonstration, but these two outlets, Farmfoods and Iceland, have so far made no move, despite pressure from the industry sector

Speaking ahead of today’s action – which he stressed would be based on “sensible discussions and non-militant action” – NFU Scotland’s North-east milk chairman Roddy Catto said the intention was to “keep the pressure on”.

“If they think they can keep their heads down below the parapet while other retailers are responding then they are wrong,” he said.

He said he had no problem with any retailer offering milk at a discount if it came out of the profits of the business but if it came from squeezing the dairy farmer into an unprofitable position then he would fight that.

Catto, from Whitecairns north of Aberdeen, where along with his wife and father he milks 100 cows, also warned that the quantity of milk might not be there in the future as more and more producers quit the industry. He pointed out that yesterday the spot price for milk was 32p per litre and rising as a combination of shortages brought about by the bad weather and farmers leaving the industry hit supplies.

The action starts at Farmfoods at 10am and at Iceland stores at 12pm.

Also yesterday, Union headquarters firmed up their meeting at Lanark market on Monday at 1pm where they hope to build on the current momentum in the industry for closer cooperation in the future.

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Union milk committee chairman Gary Mitchell said that, beyond the immediate crisis of below-cost-of-production prices, there was a need to prepare for the future.

“NFUS firmly believes that we need to use this level of momentum and unification amongst dairy farmers to deliver a greater degree of collaboration that ensures dairy farmers are better organised and in a stronger position within the dairy supply chain in the future,” he said.

“What has also emerged from the current crisis is a stronger desire for dairy farmers to work together to bring about a better future. Longer term, we must strengthen the hand of farmers to ensure that the positive work of the past few weeks is not undone and stronger producer structures can emerge.”