UK - Milk production gap grows between GB farmers

Analysis of milk production data for the year 2007/8 by DairyCo shows the production gap is growing between larger and smaller producers, with just a quarter of Britain’s dairy farmers producing over half of the year’s milk supply.

26 per cent of farmers produced over one million litres of milk, accounting for 57% of the total in 2007/8. This is a 5% increase on the 2004/5 milk year, where 21% of farmers produced over one million litres, 48% of the total milk production.

Huw Thomas, head of DairyCo market intelligence explains, "there has been a small increase in the number of farmers producing over 1 m litres per annum but a larger increase in the proportion of the GB milk supply they provide. This suggests that some larger farms are expanding, and that therefore the production gap between large and small farms is growing."

Analysis also revealed that since the 2004/5 milk year, the number of British dairy farmers producing over 2 million litres of milk has increased by 30%.

Figures also vary between countries. In Scotland, 6.5% of dairy farmers produce more than 2 million litres a year, while in England it is 5.7%, and 2.8% in Wales. Data also showed that 43% of farmers, a total of 6300, produced less than 500,000 litres in the same year, contributing 15% of the total British milk supply.