Dairy farmer angry at 'milk rip-off' (From Gazette & Herald)

Dairy farmer angry at 'milk rip-off'

A NORTH Yorkshire dairy farmer has hit out at "grotesquely unfair" milk processors who are putting up their prices but giving only a fraction back to the producers.

Leeds-based Arla Foods has issued leaflets to customers warning that the doorstep price of milk has increased by 2p a pint.

Kirkbymoorside farmer, Geoff Bean, of Salton Lodge Farm, said he was outraged that the milk processors were charging an extra 2p per pint, but only offering farmers an increase of 0.8p per litre.

The leaflet reads: "You will be aware of the recent news in the national press of the increase in the price of raw milk. This increase is essential if we are to support the average dairy farmer in maintaining his business and assist them in maintaining a long term UK milk supply."

Mr Bean is a member of the militant farmers' group Farmers For Action and joined picket lines outside eight milk processing plants, including the picket at the ASDA depot at Normanton, near Wakefield. on Tuesday. "Blaming the farmers is grotesquely unfair," said Mr Bean. "The price farmers are paid for milk has been going down the whole of my life. This price increase means the housewife is being ripped off at one end and the farmer is being ripped off at the other."

A spokesman for Arla Foods said that milk sold on the doorstep only counted towards a fraction of its business, while supermarkets and smaller shops made up the majority of sales and Arla was looking at ways to pass money back to farmers from the larger customers.

"As a leading UK dairy company, Arla Foods is committed to building a successful and sustainable dairy industry throughout the supply chain from cow to consumer," said an Arla spokesman.

"With our roots as a farmers' co-operative, we are clearly sympathetic to the situation that UK dairy farmers currently face and we are working with our customer base to look to help dairy farmer returns in the future."

Updated: 11:48 Monday, October 27, 2003