Petition Improve dairy farmers margins with an increase in milk price

Many reports may show farmgate milk prices increasing year on year, BUT the truth of the matter is, many British dairy farmers are making a loss.

In February 2011, the NFU published a report, arguing that diary farmers were being paid £330m annually less than the cost of production.

Data shows an average cost of milk production of 29.1ppl (for the period April 2010 to March 2011), Milk price stood at 25.94ppl in November 2010, resulting in a 3.16ppl gap between the cost of producing milk and the price the farmer receives.

Not only are diary farmers being paid less than the cost of production, the differential between gate price and production cost has increased significantly over the last 12 months, and is continuing to increase.

We are looking for government to combat the monopoly that the major retailers have in squeezing the price paid to British dairy farmers.

We require a minimum farmgate price (ppl) ABOVE the average cost of production, with a reasonable margin.