Milk co-ops should merge to secure better prices, says FUW

The Farmers Union of Wales has claimed it is time for all UK dairy co-ops to merge to fight more effectively for a higher milk price.

Eifion Huws, chairman of the union’s milk and dairy produce committee, said he believed that it was the only way to counter the desperate plight faced by dairy farmers.

“Producers are constantly being squeezed, so many of them are selling milk at less than the cost of production,” he said at Cardigan Show.

“Hundreds of farmers have already abandoned milk production in Wales alone, and this trend will continue unabated unless action is taken immediately.”

The Government had been wrong when it forcibly broke up the former Milk Marque co-operative. Even larger milk co-operatives in Europe and the rest of the world were getting bigger.

Major supermarkets had also become more powerful and it made sense to have a single presence negotiating on behalf of farmers.

“It is crucial that our own co-ops should either work together or merge to meet the challenge that a global market place presents.”