NFU Cymru's Milk Board Chairman, Aled Jones, has appeared before the House of Commons’ Welsh Affairs Committee and outlined to them the current situation facing dairy farmers in Wales and the effect that recent price falls have had on the sector.
In his appearance before the Committee, Mr Jones recognised that the current downturn in dairy prices in the UK has been caused by a mix of factors, including the way in which global milk supply has increased beyond forecasts, whilst at the same time global demand has dipped due to the loss of the Russian market and slowed purchasing by large importers.
Despite the well acknowledged difficulties facing the Welsh diary industry, Mr Jones remained positive about the long term prospects for the sector, and in his submission outlined a number of ways in which the Westminster Government might help ensure a sustainable, profitable future for the sector. These include ensuring fair and transparent supply chain relationships, developing measures which allow increased income security and risk management for farmers, improved country of origin labelling of dairy products sold in the UK and extending the work of the Grocery Code Adjudicator to include farmers’ relationships with processors.
Mr Jones also raised the issue of EU intervention prices with the committee, speaking afterwards he said, “I took the opportunity to raise the issue of the low EU intervention price directly with EU Commissioner, Phil Hogan, at the NFU Conference in Birmingham last week, and I have raised the issue with the Welsh Affairs Committee once again today. The current intervention price of 17 pence per litre does not provide the industry with any sort of safety net, and I have re-iterated the call I made last week for this to be reviewed urgently.”
Mr Jones raised the issue of the dairy industry Code of Best Practice and the need to increase the bargaining power and influence of farmers in the dairy supply chain, through for example, collaboration via producer groups.
Taxation is also one area in which Mr Jones believes Government might be able to help dairy producers. Mr Jones said, “We would ask that Government look at extending profit averaging for periods of up to five years to help farm businesses be able to manage with the increasing volatility we are seeing in milk price and which is likely to be with us for some time to come.”
Mr Jones concluded, “I am most grateful to the Welsh Affairs Committee for holding this one off enquiry into dairy farming in Wales. As a sector we are currently going through a very difficult period, but I remain optimistic about our long term future. In my evidence today I put across a number of messages for action at all levels to help ensure the future of our sector, and I very much hope that these will be taken on board.”
