Closed petition British farmers should legally have to be paid at least the cost of production.

Closed on 26 January 2017

Farming is one of the only industries in which businesses are paid less than the cost of production. Take the dairy industry for example; the cost of producing a pint of milk is between 25 - 33.5 pence per litre (1), yet the majority of British farmers are paid under 20 pence per litre (2

Continuing to use dairy as an example, since 2000, more than half of British dairy farms have closed down, reducing from over 28,000 to under 10,000 (3), and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. 'Nearly one in 10 dairy farms across England and Wales have closed in the last three years' (4).

But this doesn't just affect dairy farmers, there are forecasts that the income for many others are due to drop by the following amounts this year alone (5):
Cereals down 24%
General cropping down 17%
Pigs down 46%

(1) Published 26 May 2016
http://goo.gl/vXJmyX
(2) Published 2 July 2016
https://goo.gl/UW5ygo
(3) Published 21 February 2016
http://goo.gl/BqdbG1
(4) Published 12 July 2016
http://goo.gl/JGh2As
(5) Published 29 January 2016
http://goo.gl/6E73qN