Aldi also currently charges 89p for four pints. So what can consumers who want UK farmers to survive do? Can your spending power make a difference? Not all all. Waitrose pays Other milk products are not covered. In May , Booths launched a Fair Milk scheme, pledging to always pay the highest market price to farmers.
Now the chain, which has more than 30 stores across Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, pays 33p per litre, the highest price among the big retailers , 10p per litre more than Asda and Morrisons. The big player in the convenience sector raised prices for farmers in Farmers may be having a tough time, and many are, but despite that they've managed to produce more milk than last year.
In fact it's an extra 40 pints for every person living in the UK. That is a lot of extra milk for dairies and processors to have to deal with. Is it any surprise the price has gone down? Well no-one said being an interested ethical consumer was easy! The truth is milk is just the start. If you want to support the British dairy industry you'll need to take a close look at the labels on butter, cheese and yogurt.
And in a broader sense think about what it is you are being asked to preserve. A traditional approach to dairy farming. We could be producing milk much more efficiently with thousands of cows inside massive sheds that never go outside.
If we keep buying cheap milk that may be what we end up with. The choices we make in the shops today could have consequences for years to come. Farmers' version of ice bucket challenge.
Image source, Getty Images. No-one said being an ethical dairy consumer was easy. The simplest answer is buy it from the farmer. Farming unions have quoted prices of between 28p and 30p per litre to produce liquid milk, meaning even after the increases farmers are still likely to be making a loss.
Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Tesco deal pay at least 30p. The wholesale price set by the main milk cooperative, Arla, is currently closer to 24p. Morrisons announced last week that it would introduce a new premium brand of milk in the autumn that would give shoppers the choice to pay more, but had initially refused to increase the price paid for its standard milk. Along with Aldi and Lidl it gave in on Friday after an announcement from Asda earlier in the day.
Morrisons has also said it will launch a new brand of cheese that will similarly ensure dairy farmers are paid more.
The Guardian notes that as a result of a growing price war and, more significantly, a supply glut resulting from the end of production quotas in Europe, the cost of milk has declined even as demand has surged in recent years. Since , the amount of milk sold in the UK has risen by 11 per cent to 5. Milk farmers are finding ways to cut out the supermarket middleman as a row over rock bottom prices prompts more to seek direct-to-shopper sales.
The Daily Telegraph reports that Farmdrop, an online service which provides door-to-door delivery of goods purchased directly from local farms, has seen a per cent increase in dairy farmers registering since the start of the year. The crisis affecting milk farmers has hit headlines recently as protests around the country escalated. A global supply glut has pushed the wholesale price per litre paid by the main co-operatives significantly below the 28p average production cost quoted by unions, and is forcing many farms out of business.
Protests have focused on chains such as Aldi, Lidl and Morrisons, which do not guarantee to pay more than the cost of production. Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose and other chains do offer such a promise.
Morrisons announced this week that it will introduce a new premium brand to give shoppers the choice to pay more to British farmers. Alongside the growth in online sales, The Guardian cites data compiled by trade magazine Farmer's Weekly which shows that more farmers are offering local sales directly to their communities.
It has created a map see below showing the 60 farms around the UK which now allow consumers to buy produce from them, marking "the revival of market that was lost with the emergence of refrigerated lorries and supermarkets in the second half of the last century". Morrisons has announced the launch of a new premium milk brand that will be cost more and result in higher payments to farmers, as it seeks to draw a line under a recent spate of protests.
After talks with with farming unions, the supermarket group announced the roll out-of the "Milk for Farmers" brand across all of its nearly UK stores in the autumn. Morrisons corporate services director Martyn Jones said it will allow "customers to pay a little more if they want to support British farmers". Dairy farmers have been protesting across the country in a widespread action targeted at Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl, which do not guarantee to pay farmers the cost of production.
Last week police had to be called to an Asda in Stafford after two cows were herded into the store. Farmers are angry at a drop in the wholesale — or 'farmgate' — price of milk in the past year, amid a supply glut caused in part by the removal of European production quotas. The Mirror says that compared to an average production cost of 28p per litre, the farmgate price paid by the three chains has slipped to around 23p.
I would pay more for milk. To keep our our british milk cow farmers successful. Comment: There is no excuse for any supermarket to deny the British farmer a reasonable profit on their products. The public should speak out and support home grown produce at fair prices. Comment: Have just looked at the supermarket list of milk prices and that paid by them to dairy farmers. I will certainly no longer be buying my milk from Morrisons or Aldi. Comment: I would prefer to pay more to ensure farmers get a fair price and to ensure the welfare of cows.
I am frustrated that supermarkets do not provide the option to customers to pay more. In Wales, you are given the option to buy Welsh milk at a premium price - why not in England. Comment: lets get car stickers out there we must stand up for our British farmers we must make sure they are heard.
Comment: I would pay double the current cost for my milk to support British dairy farmers. Please make more of the supermarkets who pay a fair price to our farmers. I would like to avoid supermarkets who are cheating our farmers. Comment: I intend to try and help farmers by changing where I buy milk from, and asking family and friends to do the same.
It would be great if you could buy it straight from the farm's, is this possible in some area's? Please people let's try and keep some of our heritage alive. Comment: I have my milk delivered in glass bottles like the old days it's great and I really appreciate my milkman coming out in all kinds of weather throughout the year, I'm not well off but I don't care if the price goes up a little bit because I want our country to stay the green and pleasant land it is and to continue to see all the cows in the fields.
I don't want to buy imported milk or other dairy produce. Let's look after our dairy farmers and make their tough job worthwhile. Comment: I really have to stop buying milk from supermarkets I am not sure where I can buy milk at a fair price. The low cost is too low. The milk farmers are being squeezed out of existence and pretty soon we'll be importing all our milk from dubious countries with dubious animal husbandry laws.
Supermarkets need to stop the price war and pay, and charge, a reasonable price for an excellent product. Comment: I'd like to support my local dairy farmer. How can I find out where my local dairy farmer is that sells milk directly to the public?
Comment: I want to buy my milk and other dairy products where farmers are getting a fair price for their produce Supermarkets have the customer held to ransom!
Comment: I think it's dreadful that a farmer should make little profit for selling his milk. What business man or woman would work for so little benefit? I think we should be ashamed of ourselves for expecting farmers,who work so hard, to make a living from what they get paid.
0コメント