NFU releases questionnaire to discover real production costs of dairy farming

Farmers have been asked to share how this year’s drought and rising energy prices will affect their business in an NFU and RABDF questionnaire.

Many dairy farmers have been forced to use forage stocks and buy concentrates to supplement poor grazing due to the heat wave.

Coupled with rising energy costs, the NFU and RABDF fear this could create major problems for dairy farmers over autumn and winter.

“We want the questionnaire to give us an accurate picture of the impacts of the weather and energy costs,” NFU chief dairy advisor Tom Hind said.

“We hope we can then go to the industry and show there’s a case for milk prices to go up.”

Meanwhile claims that Arla plans to cut milk prices have been denied.

“The expectation is with commodity prices as they are the next move will be upwards, and that’s what we will be pushing for,” Jonathan Ovens, Arla Foods Milk Partnership chairman said.

For more details on the questionnaire and how you can take part, go to the NFU website

*Recent figures from Promar International have found that milk prices will have to rise by at least 3p/litre for dairy farmers to make a secure living. For more information on this, click here