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Letter to Craven Herald Regarding local meeting of Dairy Farmers in
Clapham
Craven Herald - 28
March 2007
I am pleased that Mr Rodney Mills found the meeting with dairy farmers that I organised in Clapham village hall and which was supported by the English Farming and Food Partnership interesting. But I not sure what he means by his reference to “more of the same old platitudes accommodating the corporatist agenda in their race to the bottom” (letters, March 23).
He refers with nostalgia to the Milk Marketing Board, which was set up in the dark days of the 1930s and lasted for 60 years as a near monopoly purchaser of milk. I am afraid this nostalgia is misplaced: the MMB did give some certainty to farmers, but it also meant that they became totally divorced from the rapidly changing demands of the market place. As a result British milk was devoted overwhelmingly to relatively low value products whilst the high added-value dairy products were imported. To a significant extent they still are. The MMB did attempt to “break-out” of the commodity trap – but who now remembers its ill-fated adventure into the spectacularly unsuccessful Lymswold cheese?
The dairy industry is putting huge effort into innovation. Branded milks (the one closest to home is Arla’s Cravendale) have reversed the long-term decline in liquid milk sales (still 49 per cent of the market) whilst branded cheddars (Cathedral City from Dairy Crest, Seriously Strong/ Mild/ Farmy etc from MacLellan) are performing strongly. Dairy products with health claims (for example, Omega-3 enriched) are growing in importance. Pre- and pro-biotic yogurt and yogurt drinks now occupy metres of shelf space in supermarkets.
But the market is still dragged down by the fact that surplus milk goes into commodity products like skim milk powder and these commodities set the price for the farmers in a buyers’ market. That is why dairy companies and co-operatives are investing in processing to try to win a slice of the added-value market. Farmers or groups of farmers are themselves seeking increasingly to sell their own milk direct or to manufacture products like ice-cream.
It is tough for farmers- even efficient and forward-looking farmers. But there are also opportunities and I hope, as we approach an average dairy farm output of 1m litres a year, that farmers will explore the possibility of working together to be able to invest in modern plant and equipment, not just for economic reasons but to give hard-working farmers a better quality of life for themselves and their families.
These statements are not platitudes: they express the reality of modern, demand-driven business.
© Craven Herald
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