Retailers fail to confirm stance on milk from badger cull areas
Retailers have refused to confirm or deny whether they will boycott milk from dairy farms taking part in the pilot badger cull.
The suggestion of a boycott were made by Jeremy Paxman on BBC’s Newsnight programme on Tuesday (18 September). Mr Paxman said: “In a sign of the nervousness over the plan, Waitrose, Marks and Spencer and the Co-operative all rushed to say they won’t be selling milk from farms where badgers are culled.”
Since then, all three retailers have confirmed none of their dedicated milk pool suppliers is in the pilot cull areas, but they would not confirm whether or not they will buy milk from pilot cull farms in the future.
A spokesman from Waitrose said: “Overall we understand the strength of feelings on both sides. It’s a government-led initiative and participation is entirely up to the farmers.”
A spokeswoman from Marks and Spencer added that the retailer understood the issues facing the industry and that a solution needed to be found.
In the mean time, a boycott against supermarkets stocking products from farms taking part in the pilot cull has been suggested on the website of pressure group 38 degrees.
“If enough customers demand that supermarkets boycott the farms involved in the cull the supermarkets will have to act. This will then put pressure on the farms to withdraw from the scheme,” the website states.
For more information visit our pilot badger cull page.