Inquiry into state of dairy industry

Next week the Association has announced it will meets with the Dairy All-Party Parliamentary Group chairman, Neil Parish MP, who has called a joint industry round table discussion with other concerned MPs to try and understand why, what and how the current crisis has occurred.

Ian Macalpine, RABDF chairman, said: “RABDF fully understands that the current fall in farm gate milk prices reflects the global trend and shares the plight of all those involved throughout the chain. Farmgate prices have fallen by up to 30 per cent in the last three months and there are threats of further cuts.

“Dairy farmers have accepted that there will be price volatility in future, and while these current trends are extreme, we have to find a way forward to enable dairy farmers to maintain a sustainable business.

“RABDF together with DairyUK has developed the newly launched Dairy APPG which is giving us a direct route to informing MPs about the current crisis and the opportunity to consider options which will provide a solution.”

The Dairy APPG was only set up last month. The group will focus on supporting the development of a sustainable and profitable dairy supply chain and will debate key issues for the industry.

It is set to hold an inquiry in November into the ‘sustainable competitiveness of the industry in the UK’. The group will also visit a dairy farm and processing plant in December where it will be briefed on the industry’s ‘Farm to Fork’ approach.