Campaign hots up to stop Dairy Crest
Campaign hots up to stop Dairy Crest
MILK producers in south-west Wales are continuing a campaign to prevent Dairy Crest from buying their local creamery.
The planned sale and the possible loss of 75 jobs at Aeron Valley Cheese is a prominent topic on the election trail. Most producers want the co-operative First Milk to take over and save the plant, claims Lewis Griffith, the Farmers Union of Waless county executive officer for Ceredigion.
"Nobody trusts Dairy Crest after it closed so many Welsh processing plants. Most people believe the company intends to buy the plant from the residual board of Milk Marque and close it, even though £1.8m of public money has been invested."
Dairy Crest could afford to write off Aeron Valleys accumulated losses as bad debts, and not flinch at repaying the £750,000 of grant money that the Welsh National Assembly was likely to reclaim, said Mr Griffith. Farmers understand the legal obligation to get the best possible return for the plant but wanted to retain value-adding processing in the area, he said.
Mr Griffith said a Dairy Crest pledge that Aeron Valley would "feature prominently" in operational investment plans fell far short of the guarantee wanted.
But Tom Jones, an Anglesey farmer who sits on Dairy Crests board of directors, said he could see no reason why production should stop if the creamery could be run at a profit. *