DEFRA and the Welsh Assembly Government have launched a consultation to decide how to spend £25m of EU aid on the dairy industry (story here). The two options being touted at the moment are a payment/litre for milk produced between October 2008 and September, or a payment/litre for the first 100,000 litres produced in the same period, with an additional payment over that amount (suggestions from Wales suggest this could be 0.5p/l and 0.15p/l respectively).

The fund works out at about £1600 per dairy farmer, which is hardly going to revolutionise businesses that are already having a tough time. Some people have suggested it would be better to use it to pay towards creating an industry initiative to drive higher prices, create innovation etc, though I'm not sure what another dairy body would do that other industry initiatives haven.t already tried.

So, having cast my doubts on those suggestions and having nothing better to suggest myself, has anyone got any good ideas about how to spend £25m on the dairy industry?

I would make a TV documentary/drama (plenty of jeopardy in the dairy industry) that takes a group of family dairy farms and exposes the daily risks and threats to their survival, each personal story is left at the end of the weekly episode hanging in peril awaiting some news that will allow them to lurch forward and survive another week. The film would show that in spite of producing the highest quality milk, managing animal welfare above any EU standard and being ontop of their game when it comes to the business management our intrepid dairy farmers have much more to contend with than say a city bank; handling with aplomb the series of interventions from the various bodies, agencies and tough guy milk buyers whose agendas are contra to the battle the producer has in trying to maintain their livelihoods, look after their livestock, protect their envirionment and leave a legacy for future generations while contributing to a rich and diverse rural community.

Need a good looking, sweet talking front person for this film (previous applicants can apply (Motley) if they can do jeopardy sincerely).

The program would also feature a complete set of merchandise including CD soundtrack and boxed DVD set to promote milk and dairy products.

Tricky one and I am sure this is bound up in endless rules. Personally I wouldn't think that £25m would go very far in terms of promotion - either milk or dairy farming in general.

 How about a cash boost to help farmers really get to grip with the contract issue? The NFU keeps campaigning on this saying it is a really positive move that farmers can make to heolp take charge of their own destiny. With that kind of money you could sit down with every farmer in the country to look at their contract...

DO we have to spend it on the dairy industry...i can think of a LOT of things i could spend that sort of money on! :D

 i think if a new board was set up then most of the money would be spent on beaurocrosy (sp?). the idea of a tv show is a good idea mind, we could have a 'real life' family/ community (think ''the hills'' on mtv*) ... i reckon we could have the population on the edge of their sofa every friday night, wondering if farmer giles will get his hay in before the rain/ will clear his tb test..... -that is not meant to sound sarcastic!!!

 

* ''the hills'' on MTV is a show that follows a group of people around their ''lives'' in some american city. it is all staged but doesn't really look like it is....

Slow horses and Fast Women??

Dick

caroline stocks:

So, having cast my doubts on those suggestions and having nothing better to suggest myself, has anyone got any good ideas about how to spend £25m on the dairy industry?

I had a quick butchers at this on the defra page. The first thing I noticed was the unholy alliance of consultees. If the devil were to cast his net? They will all suggest what is good for them. What will effp be recommending? I can't see them wanting anything that does not support their business objectives. Further it appears that defra have started by top slicing 10%. I expect there will be further administrative charges, because the money will be paid out through what channel or should I say sinking fund, it will be the rpa that makes hay. Cynical points finished now lets be kind and accept that defra pay out £22.5 million. This is to help dairying.

It should be aimed at the people who do the work not the litres of production. They want to keep administration to a minimum. Just hand out the sum of cash on a per head base to each dairy farm as Caroline says £1,600 each which will help the small farms more. Perhaps farms with more than a million litres get nothing so that the smaller farms receive more per head. Further perhaps producers over the age of 65 get nothing so that the producers of the future get the help.

To often the fat cats put their hands out for help in British agriculture. Why does tate and lyle need so much from the rpa?

The situation in farming could be analogous to football Manchester United are all of a sudden learning that they need football more than football needs them. British agriculture needs farmers and young farms for the future, lets not support history. Lets look forward not back. Finally perhaps the yfc could get a bit, as thatcher the milk snatcher stopped their money as well.

Dont give it to the dairy industry for a start.

Or pay anyone with say under 100 cows a lump sum to retire.

 I don't know anything about dairy farming, and I for sure don't know anything about dairy farming in Britain.  Seems to me these "emergency measures" are more to ease whatever conscious politicians have, and make the city dwellers think the government is helping farmers.  Joe Public reading the paper over his breakfast in London(maybe a name like "Nigel" Public would be more British??) or in Chicago will see that the government is generously doling out 25 million dollars or pounds to those griping farmers. Good enough he will think, problem solved. The general public has no idea how much money farming consumes.  Back in the pig market fiasco bloodbath of 1998, good old Bill Clinton decided to step in and lend a hand, gave us $5 a head on up to 500 pigs marketed during the crash.  Added up to millions, but didn't do the individual farmers much good.  Over the years we have had various disaster programs, always the total is reported on the news, so my town neighbors can say "well, I see we are giving you farmers $10 billion".  That might be true, but divided up it isn't much.

Caroline,

          This shows everyone the complete fraud that the EU is.Taxed funds from the Man in the Street are used firstly to pay disgracefull Salaries to people in an ever growing chain of festering Beaurocracy that firstly corrupts Markets by giving Payments to Producers that only reduce the value given to Producers for their products by Industry.Secondly squanders Tax Payers Money on stupid schemes like this one that helps nobody but keeps these Limpits in a job.Typical Socialist Employment creation : Good money going through bad hands dissipated with no direction or meaning.Capital should be used as Seed Corn not scattered as Bird Feed.

  Cut Taxes and Sack the Civil Servants, the only way out of this mess.

 I agree, Kansas. The move was obviously a political one by EU politicians - the dairy protests last year were reaching such a scale and attracting so much publicity that they had to do something. I think, if I remember rightly, that several member states were cross about the move because, as BB says, it  falsely inflates the markets and while it seems like a lot of money, it's not really going to sort out the problmes within the industry in the long term.

 However, ignoring any reasoning behind the payment, the UK is getting this money regardless, so we ought to make the best of it. I'm just not sure how...

>> Fast Women??

Hmmm ... would that include Isabel and Caroline?

 

 

shoes shoes and more shoes...of course...oh, and a pair of wellies

Well l could farm for a few more years untill it was gone!

 Use the funds to help build a milk powder plant so that dairy farmers have an alternative to the local market and the dictates of the supermarkets, the farmers might have to put some money in but at least they will be independant,and see how quickly the supermarkets come into line.

Of course Joe public and the government wont like it because milk prices will increase, and farmers will be ripping them of, we have seen it. When milk prices at the supermarkets went from $ 2.80 to $4.5o for 2 litres (remember aNZ $ buys what aUK pound does)in a matter of months, ther was much wringging of hands by politicians. However when milk prices dropped back down to previous levels did the supermrkets drop the same?

No way 2ltrs now costs $3.80, our costs have gone up we need to keep our margin. If only we could say the same!!!

 No idea if his is related to US milk prices or something else,  I know milk prices here have been bad for at least a year.  A New York State dairy farmer shot his 51 cows then himself, I will try to post a link.  http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2012/01/23/news/doc4b5a9833627b9167607263.txt

Kf, I think you have to drop the http://, thus: www.registerstar.com/articles/2012/01/23/news/doc4b5a9833627b9167607263.txt