Will you pay another 23p for farmers milk?

[Fudbeer]

If the supermarkets want to attract custom by selling milk artificially low then fine but don't expect the farmers to pay for it.

[tinfoilhat]

If the supermarkets want to attract custom by selling milk artificially low then fine but don't expect the farmers to pay for it.

 

I remember this sort of thing back in 2001, I heard it on a phone in. Dairy farmers staring down the barrel of extinction. As I alluded to on another thread about cheese, either they've muddled through on savings for 15 years or we're importing a lot of milk (I don't know, are we?). Or perhaps, things aren't quite as bad as the farmers are suggesting?

 

Don't get me wrong, supermarkets can and do screw everyone but I'm not convinced all these farmers are about to go bust.

[Nagel]

I already pay more for organic milk, the regular stuff is a disgusting nasty product.

 

The cows often spend their lives indoors and with very little space. They're just milk machines. I'm not an organic nut, but when it comes to milk production I like it that the cows have a better life and that I'm drinking a more natural product.

 

http://www.soilassociation.org/whatisorganic/organicanimals/dairycattle

Edited August 11, 2015 by Nagel

[Obelix]

 

What do you think would help the dairy farmers? (serious question.)

 

Produce less milk, so the price rises.

 

Try selling direct to the public like my local farm does (if you havent tried unpasturised milk you really are missing out. Just be sure they have shot all the badgers nearby)

 

Add value. Turn it into artisan cheese and butter.

[Oldtrout]

I have a milkman and it currently costs 71p a pints if that's what it costs to produce and supply then I am happy to pay it.

 

Same here!

[Happ Hazzard]

It wouldn't cost 71p from a supermarket. It's a far more efficient way of selling it. 50p a pint would be reasonable. Milkmen are an anachronism from when people didn't have fridges.

[Anna B]

I remember this sort of thing back in 2001, I heard it on a phone in. Dairy farmers staring down the barrel of extinction. As I alluded to on another thread about cheese, either they've muddled through on savings for 15 years or we're importing a lot of milk (I don't know, are we?). Or perhaps, things aren't quite as bad as the farmers are suggesting?

 

Don't get me wrong, supermarkets can and do screw everyone but I'm not convinced all these farmers are about to go bust.

 

There were some figures on the news when this debacle started about the number of Dairy farmers going out of business.

 

I can't remember the actual numbers, but I do remember being shocked at how high it was.

 

And I do know farmers are amongst the highest professions for suicides.

[Oldtrout]

It wouldn't cost 71p from a supermarket. It's a far more efficient way of selling it. 50p a pint would be reasonable. Milkmen are an anachronism from when people didn't have fridges.

 

Obviously 71p for a pint of milk is relatively expensive, but having it delivered actually saves me money ... if I had to 'nip out' for some milk, I would be tempted to buy more stuff. It also keeps my milkman in a job.

 

I know it's old fashioned to have milk delivered to your doorstep, but I'm from a family of milkmen/diary farmers and feel I'm doing my bit to help keep them in business.

 

In fact, I now try to buy 'British' whenever I can, to keep Britain in business

[tzijlstra]

People talking about capacity don't quite understand how farming works. When the market suffers because a large market is suddenly closed (Russia), a farmer has to endure that for several years. The alternative is culling of the herd, a decision no farmer likes to make. Unfortunately the milk-market has been in a huge boom in the past few years due to China needing so much powder/baby milk that farmers boosted capacity (kept new calfs) on the back of a recovered milk-price, in the hope of regaining some of the losses made in the years before (early crisis). This was clearly the wrong decision, but now it is the smaller farmers, those that didn't expand, that are going under.

 

For some idea on how traumatic that is, in my old home-town 3 farmers killed themselves within one winter because they had to sell their herd and farms.

[Cyclone]

Farmers margins are not being squeezed by the supermarkets. They are falling because they are producing too much milk.

 

It's simple excess supply. The farmers want a free market to sell their goods on except when it's inconvenient to them? Sorry, that's really not how it works at all....

 

Did they suddenly start pumping theirs cows harder?

 

I expect that the level of production is almost entirely flat. If Russia has banned imports then it's basically economic sabotage/warfare that is causing the problem.

 

---------- Post added 12-08-2015 at 08:46 ----------

 

I have a milkman and it currently costs 71p a pints if that's what it costs to produce and supply then I am happy to pay it.

 

And this is why people switched to supermarkets isn't it? That's £1.40/litre, compared to the £1.00 or less in supermarkets. It's probably approaching double the price of the cheapest supermarket milk.

 

---------- Post added 12-08-2015 at 09:03 ----------

 

If the supermarkets want to attract custom by selling milk artificially low then fine but don't expect the farmers to pay for it.

 

How is it 'artificially' low?