An 11-year old girl from Harrogate has written to Prime Minister David Cameron to express her concerns with low market prices for milk and how it is affecting her family's dairy farm.
Abigail Morrell wrote: "My dad keeps talking about how much the price of milk has dropped and he is very upset because he says he is not getting enough money to pay our bills."
The dairy farm has been in the ownership of the family for generations, and she too has dreams of one day running it with her brother.
"My dream is to run my farm with my brother. Please do whatever you can so that this will be a possibility for me. I couldn’t bear to see my precious cows go!"
However, she expressed fears that the current climate is not helping farmers.
The Prime Minister replied to Abigail's letter, saying: "Yours was such a good and moving letter. We will try and help this vital industry."
Abigail's father, told the Yorkshire Post: "We are really proud of her.
"She wants the opportunity to be able to run the farm with her brother, but the problem is will we still have a farm?
"I do not want to seem like I am hard done by but if we don’t watch it there are going to be hardly any dairy farmers left. That is how serious it’s got."
"We have had 18 months of low milk prices."
Dairy industry rallying to help hard-pressed farmers
Organisations that advise dairy farmers are being brought together to look at ways of supporting farmers in the 'challenging months ahead.'
The ‘Allied Industries Forum’ is being held as dairy farmers across the country face continued severe financial pressure from ongoing low prices.
NFU dairy board chairman Rob Harrison says the next few months will be extremely tough and that everyone must pull together for the sake of the future of the industry.
The call comes with a number of further milk price reductions; from today First Milk members supplying their creamery pools have seen another reduction in their milk price, Muller has announced a 1.35ppl cut to their suppliers. Meanwhile, Arla has given its direct suppliers 12 monthsnotice on their contract as they’re struggling to find a market for this milk.
Rob Harrison, who steps down from his role as NFU dairy board chairman later this month, said: “I won’t lie – it’s really difficult out there for many dairy farmers and I honestly don’t see the situation changing in the short-term. The market remains extremely tough and buyers are concerned with the impact of the forthcoming Spring Flush. But AHDB Dairy figures show daily deliveries are coming back in line with February 2015 levels.
“To help manage supply and demand at processor level we’ve seen Dairy Crest, working alongside their farmer group Dairy Crest Direct, bring in a new production balancing scheme. We need more milk buyers to show responsibility in trying to match supply and demand – and this needs to be done alongside farmer suppliers.
“We desperately need help from the government and the EU who must both do more to ensure a sustainable future for the dairy sector and help make tools available for farmers to manage volatility.”
“With market prospects looking pretty bleak in the short term we need to ensure farmers across the country are getting the best support and advice on what they can do to survive periods of market volatility and low prices.”
AHDB Dairy strategy director Amanda Ball said: “We want farmers to know where to go for help with the various challenges being faced. I know that no two farmers will be facing the same issues. Hence the aim of this day is to recognise the key challenges and how our respective roles can complement each other.
“We intend to get different organisations – such as banks, farm consultants, feed advisers, vets, and farming charities – to openly discuss how we can all work together to support dairy farmers through this difficult period. We want to improve visibility between us of what is available to help with short term business issues and fill any gaps.”
Rob Harrison added: “We know that there is a lot of support available and much to be gained from working together. We need to encourage dairy businesses to ask questions, seek help and take-up the support on offer.”
