57% of GB milk production controlled by fewer than 4000 farmers

Almost 57% of Great Britain’s milk production lies in the hands of just 3862 dairy farmers who account for only a quarter of the total number of milk producers, according to figures from DairyCo.


The figures from DairyCo Market Intelligence (click for PDF) show that the milk production gap is growing between small and large farms.


Analysis shows that there are now 84 farmers producing in excess of 4m litres, 703 producing 2-4m litres and 3075 producing 1-2 m litres.


In contrast, in 2004/05 the number of farmers producing more than 1m litres was just over 3650 and they accounted for 48% of total production.


Statistics also show that 43% of farmers, a total of 6326, produce less than 500,000 litres per annum, which accounts for 15% of production.

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