Friday 02 November 2012
United Kingdom
Milk prices less than bottled water
About 300 farmers staged a blockade of its factory in Market Drayton in Shropshire on Monday after talks about price rises broke down.
Muller, which owns Robert Wiseman dairies, agreed to increase the price to 29p per litre in September.
But the Farmers For Action campaign group said at least 33p a litre was needed to cover production costs alone.
Group chairman David Handley said: "We are producing milk at the moment for an unsustainable price."
"We did get some price increases from Muller Wiseman after the last lot of blockades but those haven't started coming into farmers' bank accounts yet," he said.
"Even with the last rise, we are still producing milk at two to three pence less than cost and we can not continue to do that."
Muller said it had no issues with peaceful protests but that blockades were putting the country's dairy industry at risk and "handed the impetus to competitors that do not use milk sourced from British farmers."
Mr Handley said farmers did not want to stage protests, but feel they have no option.
He said he hoped the meeting with Muller, in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, would lead to "positive talks" about milk prices being increased before the end of the year.
bbc
Farming News Daily Supporting British Pig Farmers
Source: Argentine Beef Packers S.A.
Back to News Headlines