Commenting on today’s debate at Westminster Hall on the dairy industry, Dr Judith Bryans, Chief Executive of Dairy UK, said: “The ongoing commitment of parliamentarians is important to ensure a sustainable future for the British dairy industry and it is right that they should take a keen interest in the current challenges facing the industry. It is crucial that these debates should acknowledge current difficulties but also make constructive recommendations and recognise the long term positive prospects of the industry.
“The UK dairy industry is fully exposed to global market developments and this will remain a challenge for the industry. But there can be no expectation that volatile markets will always cover the full costs of production which can vary greatly from farm to farm due a number of factors.
“Therefore, we welcome the support of parliamentarians for our call and that of our industry colleagues to review intervention prices at EU level as the current intervention price is too low to prevent the needless loss of productive capacity. We have worked closely with the Dairy All-Party Parliamentary Group to lobby the European Commission on this subject and we will keep pushing for this fundamental emergency measure. Looking forward, we will keep working with parliamentarians through the Dairy APPG chaired by Neil Parish MP and other platforms on ways to help the industry, including strong support for country of origin labelling, encouraging the Government to procure British dairy products, gaining recognition for the safe, nutritious and sustainable foods we represent and engaging with Defra and the UKTI on market access.
“Last but not least, we will continue to strengthen our efforts to promote milk and dairy. The Dairy Council and the Milk Marketing Forum have already done a tremendous amount of work over the years to promote milk and dairy foods to consumers, health professionals and the media and we look forward to developing new initiatives with our industry partners.”
