Dairy dilemma

UNLIKE many Parliamentary exposés that simply lament procedural errors, today's critique on the collapse of the Dairy Farmers of Britain co-operative could not be more pragmatic.

By The Newsroom

Published 22nd Mar 2010, 20:53 BST

Updated 22nd Mar 2010, 20:53 BST

It reveals the extent to which insolvency rules are totally impractical when it comes to the business affairs of farm co-operatives. It also highlights how the current tax system discourages investment in such enterprises.

They are warnings that Ministers must heed. Dairy farmers are still struggling to survive, even more following reports that supermarket giant Asda is dropping 200 of its 500 suppliers.

In many respects, however, it was the revival of co-operatives, and

the pooling of resources, that has enabled so many farms to survive against the odds.

Yet they will not be in a position to continue doing so unless the Government makes co-operatives a more attractive financial proposition. The greatest irony, of course, is that the co-operative movement is so closely allied to Labour – the very party which has treated farmers with such contempt since 1997.