NFU Cymru Milk Board Chairman Mansel Raymond will call on dairy farmers to unite behind NFU Cymru's 'Vision for the Dairy Industry' at this year's Welsh Dairy Event being held today in Carmarthen.
Mansel Raymond will outline the key points of the recently launched Vision document and tell all those dairy farmers who visit the NFU Cymru stand that current market arrangements have allowed amateurish tinkering to lead to price instability.
Mansel said: "The current mix of contractual arrangements and pool pricing is distorting market signals and contributing to downward pressure on farm-gate prices. It cannot be right that producers are tied into 12-month contracts without fixed price stability. And we are seeing all sorts of cross-subsidisation and inefficiency in the way milk is bought and sold. We will not achieve transparency or a fairer deal until these issues are addressed."
Mr Raymond went on to encourage producers to continue pushing for change, "We need to keep driving this agenda forward and I think our Vision document offers a starting point from which to do that. We can't expect someone to come riding in on a white horse to save the dairy industry. If we do we risk losing the ground we have fought so hard to hold. Our market size, potential for growth and efficiency at the farm gate are reason for optimism. But we need to harness those strengths in rethinking the way the entire industry is structured.
"Ultimately farmers have to shoulder the cost of inefficiency, wherever that might be. It may not be fair but it is the situation in which we find ourselves and means we have to be the driving force behind improving efficiency at every point in the supply chain. That doesn't mean we stop pressing for better regulation of retailers or stop highlighting increasing on-farm costs but it does mean we must continue to lead the debate and the reform agenda.
"The dairy industry will change drastically over the next few years. We can help shape the future or be bystanders. NFU Cymru is determined to shape that change, as proposed in the Vision document, be we cannot do that without the support of farmers."
