| WI have their say on milk prices |
By: Rebecca Hubbard
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Posted: Monday, August 16, 2010 3:50 pm
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The National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) has waded into the milk price debate by calling for supermarket reassurance that they will support British dairy farmers.
The move comes after supermarkets started cutting the price of milk. Asda cut the price of four pints from £1.53 to £1.25 two weeks ago, whilst Morrisons offered a promotional four pints for 50p.
Ruth Bond, NFWI chairwoman, said: “We are deeply concerned the major retailers have decided to launch a price war when Britain’s dairy farmers are already battling to stay in business." She added that to see the UK dairy industry thriving and producing high-quality products is what consumers want, and retailers had given no assurances that producers would not “ultimately bear the brunt” of the price cuts.
It is now anticipated that the organisation is planning a rerun of its 2006 Great Milk Debates campaign with the NFU.
In the first campaign, in 2006, the two organisations championed higher milk prices for farmers after the farmgate average hit a low of 18.4ppl, down from 24.5ppl in 1996. The campaign was successful; prices paid by retailers began to increase, reaching, in 2008, 25.91ppl.
Farmgate prices then decreased again to 23.71ppl in 2009, which – according to the NFWI – meant farmers were now in a worse position than before the debates as production costs were also rising.
There will be a half-day conference on the issue in November, and an ‘action pack’ for the campaign will be distributed to members in November. |
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