Higher priced milk brands aim to help struggling farmers

Almost two thirds of consumers said they would pay more for their dairy products
Almost two thirds of consumers said they would pay more for their dairy products

Would you pay a little extra for milk if that money goes back to the farmer?

Almost two thirds of consumers said they would pay more for their dairy products if they knew it would go towards helping struggling farmers.

Now milk producers with Arla have launched a new 'Farmer's Milk' charging an extra 25p which will be returned to Arla's 12,700 farmer owners.

The company said earlier this year that it planned to be a 'champion of British dairy' with the UK managing director Tomas Pietrangeli saying their overall objectives were to 'return the best possible price to our farmer owners.'

People willing to pay more

"This product will see more money being paid directly back to Arla members"
"This product will see more money being paid directly back to Arla members"

And Arla Foods farmer board director Jonathan Ovens said the launch is a great boost to their dairy farmers.

"People want to know more about where their food comes from and who benefits, and are willing to pay more if they know it goes directly to the farmers that produce it.

"As we’re part of a co-operative, the money we receive goes back to the farmers who supply our milk.

"With farmgate milk prices much lower than we would like, we thank Asda for the continued support of our co-operative principles and also for providing an opportunity for their shoppers to give something back to Arla dairy farmers."

NFU Scotland milk committee chairman Graeme Kilpatrick said initiatives such as this demonstrate that consumers value farmers and believe in a 'sustainable milk price.'

"This product will see more money being paid directly back to Arla members and this is positive given the challenges that farmers have faced over the last two years.

"It is not yet clear whether this product will contain milk produced in Scotland and it is important going forward that retailers continue to source and sell Scottish milk from Scottish farms," he added.

"NFU Scotland will advance our discussions with both retailers and processors to ensure that investment in the Scottish dairy industry continues."

UK milk producers struggling

New figures show milk production in the UK is down 9.2% to 3.9m litres/day from the same period in the previous year.

"Disastrous price reporting month on month; the gap between production costs and farm-gate price continues to widen and families on dairy farms live in fear of this very real threat to their existence," the European Milk Board said.

Romuald Schaber, President of the EMB said: "This constant shortfall in price coverage means that farmers must subsidise their production out of their own pockets.

"To make this possible, they do not pay themselves for the work they put in and take on loans to salvage their milk production and farms for the time being.

"When even this fails, many farms abandon milk production, raising a very urgent question. Can we really treat those producing our food so unfairly and allow production in many regions of Europe to simply disappear?

"While it is obvious that the answer to this question is 'No', the next question about options to address these unfair conditions is also self-evident.

"To bring prices to a fair level, the volume of milk on the market must be reduced."