Dairy farmers resurrect campaign for Ofmilk
The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers is urging government to reconsider a voluntary milk regulator in an attempt to redress current milk price trends and inject some confidence into the sector.
Farmers are already talking about solutions to help the dairy sector. See what’s being said on the forums and join |
Discussions have commenced with All Party Parliamentary Group for Dairy Farmers’ chairman, Daniel Kawczynski prior to a meeting scheduled for next month.
“While we fully support the industry’s appeal for a supermarket ombudsman, we believe a specific voluntary milk regulator, an Ofmilk, is more realistic and also necessary to improve price transparency in the dairy food chain, identify available margin and ensure a fair return throughout that supply chain,” said RABDF’s chairman, Lyndon Edwards.
The association championed the idea for an Ofmilk in 2006 when the OFT indicated it was not adverse to any voluntary initiative to get the dairy market working properly, at least in the short term, and therefore in principle it would not be opposed to such a regulator.
“After a decade of witnessing the milk cost price gap widening and more than 13,000 British producers quit the sector, farmers enjoyed a short lived blip of higher prices which came to an abrupt end in the new year when the market began to spiral downwards. At the same time, we are importing more than a million litres of liquid milk per day, a far from cost effective solution for the industry,” said Mr Edwards.
“Determining dairy farmer and also processor margins are relatively straightforward, however it continues to be virtually impossible to do that for retailers and foodservice. Therefore, we are calling for an arbiter with access to the participants’ books to improve transparency, identify available margin and ultimately, ensure a fair return throughout the supply chain. We would also welcome a more knowledgeable and potentially more sympathetic hearing for milk industry participants than is currently available.”
Dairy farmers have been discussing other ways to improve their position in the market place on the forums. Read what they have been saying and join the discussion. There is an alternative milk sector thread here.