North East dairy farmers will be swapping their milk parlours for the pavements this month as they head to town centres to rally public support for local milk producers.
The decision to take to the streets of Middlesbrough and Sheffield comes after months of savage farm gate price cuts have already forced more than 60 dairy farmers in the region to sell their cows and close their parlours.
Nationally the impact of the cuts – which in some instances amount to more than 30% - is that the number of dairy farmers has now fallen below 10,000 for the first time.
“We are bemused by the prices being paid at the moment,” said NFU regional dairy board chairman David Shaw, “especially as we are talking about a fantastic, fresh, nutritious product.
“Milk and the wealth of dairy ingredients we enjoy every day really are a national speciality. The quality of our milk and diversity of wonderful regional products made from it should be celebrated and cherished.
“Our message to consumers is simple – every pint is precious! The public needs dairy farmers to keep the daily supply of milk and delicious dairy ingredients coming and British dairy farmers need the public to make sure the products they buy are made with British milk.”
The farmers will be in Middlesbrough (Corporation Road) and Sheffield (Fargate) on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 February where they aim to meet as many shoppers as possible.
With them will be Annabelle the NFU’s model cow that loves to be milked and samples of wonderful local yogurt and cheese produced by Longley Farm, Shepherds Purse and Wensleydale Creamery. At the Sheffield event local dairy Our Cow Molly will also be there to provide a taste of their #superfreshmilk and ice cream.
“We will have plenty of samples for people to try and hope that by reminding them how good our local produce is, they’ll remember to back British farming next time they go shopping,” added David.
“In particular we are asking people to look out for cheese, yogurts, butter and other dairy products made using British milk, as we know many of the products currently on sale use imported milk.”
To help shoppers, the NFU has produced an easy reference guide to labelling. This shows what people should be looking for and highlights common pitfalls.
“We know from our regular survey of public opinion that people want to see more British products on the shelves. This guide is designed to help them get to grips with dairy labelling, which can be confusing,” added David.
“We believe retailers can do more to support the British dairy sector, by increasing their sourcing of British milk for their ‘own label’ products and make the provenance of British dairy products clearer, ideally by using the Red Tractor logo.
