Northern Ireland

Locally-produced food may disappear from shelves within months

British-produced food may disappear from shop shelves within months due to the "crisis" facing the farming industry
British-produced food may disappear from shop shelves within months due to the "crisis" facing the farming industry British-produced food may disappear from shop shelves within months due to the "crisis" facing the farming industry

LOCALLY-produced food may disappear from many supermarket shelves within months due to the "crisis" facing the farming industry, a union has warned.

The four main farming unions, the NFU Cymru, the NFU, NFU Scotland and the Ulster Farmers Union, met farmers for an emergency summit in central London to discuss the issue yesterday.

Afterwards, Meurig Raymond, NFU president said many farmers faced "big decisions" about whether to leave the industry in the next few weeks as they struggle to pay bills and face rising debts.

"Obviously the industry is in crisis. There's despair within our members," he said

"I've been farming for 45 years and this is the worst I've known, particularly the dairy sector and the lamb sector.

"We've seen a 30 per cent fall in milk prices in the last 12 months and we've seen good quality new-season lamb being sold at least £15 per animal less than last year. It's a crisis I've haven't seen in my farming career."

Protesters have been taking part in the Milk Trolley Challenges, blockading distribution centres and even bringing cattle into supermarkets to raise awareness of their plight.

The challenge sees farmers removing all cartons of milk from shops including Asda, Morrisons and Lidl before paying for it and taking it away, or dumping it at the checkout.

Milk prices have been falling steadily - with Arla announcing a price cut of 0.8p per litre, taking the standard litre price to 23.01p for its UK members.

Farmers estimate that it costs between 30 and 32p to produce each litre of milk - meaning some are losing almost 10p per litre.

A survey of milk drinkers found they would be willing to pay £1.28 for four pints of milk. Supermarket prices currently range from 89p to £1.

Farming unions have called for ministers to hold a joint meeting with them to find solutions to the problems. A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: "We maintain a regular dialogue with farming unions and industry. We look forward to discussing these issues with them further."

A British Retail Consortium spokesman said: "There is no connection between the price of milk in supermarkets and the price retailers pay farmers for their milk.

"The retail industry pays a fair price with individual retailers using different payment models. We understand the current frustration of farmers but it is wrong to blame retailers."