Support grows for draft dairy contract

Both NFU and the EC agriculture department want a fair universal formula for fixing prices but have not pinned down what it should be.

But NFU Scotland has now come up with a working model – assisted by the government’s levy-funded industry body DairyCo.

The formula has been well received by Scots farmers; the Welsh NFU has praised it and backed it; and the English NFU quoted it as a good example of how a universal contract might work in a presentation at Westminster this week, designed to recruit Defra to the cause.

The Scottish formula would take into account prices across Europe of liquid milk, powdered milk and cheese, so farmers benefited from whichever was the best market of the moment. It is argued that this would be more acceptable to buyers,

and to EC law, than trying to link prices to production costs – and better for farmers.

The working party said: “An average cost of production cannot account for the wide range of systems and regions.”

n Meanwhile, Leeds-based Arla has asked for planning permission to build a new £150m milk plant at Aylesbury, Bucks, to cater for its expansion plans.

It could be operational by the end of 2012.

Arla said existing facilities at Stourton, near Leeds, and at Settle, would be unaffected.

The plan promises no carbon emissions or landfill waste.

See www.arlafoods.com/aylesbury/