Westminster protest against milk price cuts by processors

Following their own protest meeting in Lanark earlier this week, a number of Scottish producers will make their way to Westminster to hear UK farm minister Jim Paice give his take on the current crisis.

NFU Scotland president Nigel Miller, spurred by the support the union was given at the Lanark meeting for a strong line to be taken on introducing a code of conduct in the dairy industry, will join English NFU president Peter Kendall on the platform.

It is also expected that Mansell Raymond, the chairman of the NFU dairy board, will contribute and his views will be keenly listened to following his appointment as chairman of the European-wide group of agricultural unions under the Copa-Cogeca banner.

Following his appointment earlier this week, Raymond said that one of the immediate priorities of the pressure group would be to ensure fairness across the supply chain.

Although the UK can itself bring in a voluntary code of conduct, Paice and the UK government have resisted taking this option and it is possible that Europe will bring in a compulsory one.

Producers will also be keen to learn if any progress has been made in reversing the recent price cuts.

Following a meeting last week, the unions said they believed there was a window of opportunity between now and  1 August for processors to restore all milk price cuts imposed on farmers since 1 April.

ANDREW ARBUCKLE