29th October 2006

Barry Gardiner, Minister for biodiversity said at the recent Labour party conference that the crisis in dairy farming is "not the fault of processors or supermarkets" but the fault of "unsustainable inefficiency within the industry".

What nonsense! It is our Government's approach that is unsustainable. More intensive dairy units harm our rural communities, animal welfare and wildlife. Indeed farmers are now being encouraged to keep cows indoors the whole year to turn them into evermore 'efficient' milk manufacturing machines.

We have the crazy situation where Britain has doubled milk imports over the last 20 years, yet has also increased milk exports. The EU with our money, supports the dairy industry with €16 billion a year: ie more than $2 per cow per day - half the world’s people live on less than this amount. The EU surpluses are dumped on world markets using costly export subsidies, which destroy people’s livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries.

Dairy processing and trading companies directly benefit from these export subsidies and we see supermarket margins on milk improve, while farmgate prices have fallen. It is no wonder some 40 UK dairy farms a week have been going out of business.

Our Government urgently needs to act against supermarkets and milk processors if we are to create a healthy, sustainable dairy industry (i).


Ivi Szaboove-Baxendale,

Stroud District Green party

Note

(i) Organic milk production, for example is five times more energy efficient on a per animal basis and as new research confirms it is better for us being higher in omega3.