Welsh urge school milk boycott

4 April 2000



Welsh urge school milk boycott

By FWi staff

WELSH dairy farmers are urging their children to boycott subsidised school milk schemes after discovering pupils pay nearly six times what farmers receive.

Farmers are selling milk for around 8p a pint. Their children pay 15p for one-third of a pint, despite the scheme which receives European Union subsidies.

Dairy producer Brian Williams told The Independent that children should be given milk, not expected to pay six times what their fathers receive.

A scheme organiser said the price in schools was largely a result of delivery and packaging costs, reports the newspaper.

Farmgate milk prices are at their lowest in real terms for 30 years, while supermarket prices remain steady.

However, supermarkets are not to blame for the slump, according to Neil Davidson, chief executive of Express Dairies.

The strong Pound and Common Agricultural Policy, not supermarkets, are to blame for depressed prices, he tells the Financial Times.