Slavish EU subservience to blame for demise of milk market

THE turmoil in the milk industry has been brought about entirely by our elected politicians who have destroyed another of our very efficient industries by slavishly obeying European orders to the detriment of our hard working dairy farmers; an industry which was the envy of many other countries. They have managed to do all this in the relatively short time span of 25 years.

Previously all the milk produced by the dairy farmer was collected from his farm on a daily basis, in all weathers, by the Milk Marketing Board (MMB) – a government agency.

The dairy farmer had no worries about selling his milk at a fair price or of receiving payment for it. He was able to devote all his energies into producing a first class product.

The MMB distributed the milk to the local dairies according to their needs for “liquid” sales for the milk rounds-men, with any surplus milk sent for associated food production. No milk was wasted and, more importantly none was imported. Everyone was happy.

But, this traditional method of selling our milk did not allow other countries to compete as they simply did not have the organisation for doing so. Europe had to find another method of attacking our lucrative market, and how easy when they found our governments would ‘roll over’ so obediently to satisfy their demands.

They declared the MMB and our milkmen were monopolies and the situation could not be allowed to continue. The whole milk industry had to be opened up to competition; everyone who wanted to sell milk had to be allowed to do so, and these demands of the European Union came to pass.

The MMB which was formed in 1933 virtually ceased to exist in 1994 and was finally dissolved in 2002.

Over 60 years of first class, dependable and super efficient service was simply cast aside to be replaced by what? The milkmen who had delivered milk to the doorstep, in all weathers and usually in the early hours, always accepted fair competition but they were not to receive fair competition. When every shop, garage, supermarket began selling milk they discounted the product, an easy option as they were not delivering to the customer, not collecting the empty bottle for reuse or supplying it on credit. Anyone can offer a discount if only a fraction of the job is being done.

The glass bottle, reusable for approximately 40 times via the milkman, had to go as when it was obtained from other sources there was no-one to collect the empty and it was thrown away and the dairies could not afford such wastage. The earliest and “greenest” recycling scheme had been abandoned.

And, what about the milk itself? A pint from the milkman may last two to three days but this was an unrealistic period if sold by other sources. The solution was easy for the supermarkets as their milk is further treated by homogenisation.

Is the customer aware its freshness is, in effect, disguised to allow a sell by date of around nine days. I found the taste of a fresh pint of milk to be one of life’s simple pleasures and feel it is sad that anyone under 25 years of age may not have experienced this.

Britain is now having to import milk from France and this, to successive governments, seems to be far more important than the welfare of our dairy farmers.

From: George McManus, Chairman Beverley and Holderness Labour Party, Whins Lane, Long Riston, East Yorkshire.

I SUPPORT our dairy farmers in their attempts to defend their jobs and futures. I applaud the Co-op for its decision to increase the price paid to them for their milk, so I watched a recent news bulletin with interest which reported that 250 dairy farmers had blockaded the entrance to a major milk processor outlet. The police were standing by chatting to protestors.

I would like to organise such a blockade at Beverley’s County Hall to defend the jobs and careers of workers being made redundant but know that if I do so I will be accused of secondary picketing and arrested.

Is there one rule for farmers and one rule for everyone else?

From: Christine Cook, Inkerman Way, Denby Dale, Huddersfield.

WITH reference to the 
letter from David T Craggs (Yorkshire Post, July 28) and 
the milk prices, there is a mechanism that allows you to pay a little extra for your milk to keep our dairy industry alive. It’s called a milkman.

Keep that milkman in a job, the dairy farmer in business and vote with your feet against the stranglehold of the supermarkets all in one go!

Oh, and you get a nice fresh pinta on your doorstep, without having to struggle through bad weather in the winter.

It couldn’t be simpler.

From: Mrs EM Swires, Haverah Park, Harrogate.

I WOULD like to thank Dr Sentamu for his support for 
the dairy farmers (Yorkshire 
Post, July 28). If the supermarket and processors don’t start to 
pay us a fair price for our products this green and 
pleasant land will become wasteland.