DAIRY farmers claim processors are not doing enough to assist them as they "continue to lose money daily".
A joint call from farming unions across the UK asked the whole supply chain to step up efforts to maximise the return for farmers.
It is an improving picture for dairy farmers though with AMPE/MCVE indicators up 24 per cent this month.
But the unions said farmers continued to suffer losses as processors were not increasing milk prices sufficiently.
Dairy officials form the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) met with others from the NFU and NFU Scotland and NFU Cymru to discuss the issues last week.
They said they accepted the commercial competitive challenges of milk processors, retailers and other end users are intense but want them to "seriously and genuinely reflect on the pressures primary producers are under".
And they agreed to work together to achieve more effective price transmission, margin insurance, future and fixed pricing and more effective professional farmer representation.
In a joint statement, the unions said: “We hear platitudes that processors and end users have sympathy for producers’ plight, and some will be genuine, but the speed in reflecting positive market increase in value is not quick enough, particularly in the current exceptional circumstances.
“Actions speak much louder than words and all the UK farming unions ask of the supply chain is to seriously and genuinely consider the long term damage and consequences of a not delivering much more back to primary producers.
“Farmers do not want to hear individual processors, their farmer representatives or retailers, defending or justifying the pace of price movement.
"What they want to hear is a genuine and collective assurance, backed by price increases, from all in the supply chain, that primary production is a fundamental requirement to their business and to consider the impact and consequences on the primary sector."
The unions said they wanted the supply chain "to reflect on the need to raise the bar and to consider the impact on their business if their income did not match costs for long periods".
“Dairy farmers are asking themselves and their families if the supply chain values them and we are putting pressure on responsible processors, retailers and other end users to consider how they can collectively, and without any compromise on legal requirements, move away from the current destructive short-term culture towards a position where all efficient, progressive businesses can prosper," their statement added.
“It is essential the supply chain reflects on whether it is sustainable to ‘be competitive’ based on the ability to drive the primary sector into the ground and effectively reducing the supply base in the UK to a dangerously low level. The crisis is not over, and all in the dairy supply chain have a reason to take collective action now and for the future.”
