ALMOST half of Britain’s dairy farmers are scheduled to leave the sector and 45 per cent of the remaining half planning to continue in production have put their expansion plans on hold, according to a Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) survey. “Forty nine per cent of producers see no future for themselves if current farmgate prices persist for the next six months leaving Britain with approximately 5,000 dairy farms, of which half have no confidence in immediate investment,” reports RABDF vice chairman Mike King. “Those intentions could result in the industry with insufficient critical mass and consumers short of British liquid milk and dairy produce.” The RABDF survey concluded, in general, that it was the producers with all year calving herds and a level profile contract who planned to leave, whilst those with aligned contracts and or low cost production systems believed their business had a future. Reasons for planning to quit ranged from base price well below cost of production, long hours for very little financial return, banks unwilling to give further assistance, to no successor so why continue. Lack of surplus cash was the simple answer from the majority of those who indicated they intended to put their expansion plans on hold. “The loss of dairy farmers continues unabated with 434 quitting in the last 12 months during which period over £1 billion has been wiped off farmgate incomes due to falling milk prices,” said Mr King. “These price trends are multifactorial; we have to accept commodity volatility in the global marketplace and other influences outwith our control and factor them into our long term business plans. “However, supermarket discounting has also been among the key price influences. “Whilst we welcome the support for liquid milk that some supermarkets have demonstrated in the last few weeks, we continue to urge all retailers to pay all farmers a fair price for milk for processing – one which covers cost of production and leaves sufficient for investment purposes.”
More
M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
« Dec | ||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Archives
- December 2020 (36)
- November 2020 (27)
- October 2020 (25)
- September 2020 (26)
- August 2020 (27)
- July 2020 (26)
- June 2020 (26)
- May 2020 (30)
- April 2020 (26)
- March 2020 (28)
- February 2020 (30)
- January 2020 (30)
- December 2019 (23)
- November 2019 (35)
- October 2019 (32)
- September 2019 (30)
- August 2019 (39)
- July 2019 (34)
- June 2019 (33)
- May 2019 (63)
- March 2019 (30)
- February 2019 (32)
- January 2019 (29)
- December 2018 (30)
- November 2018 (29)
- October 2018 (28)
- September 2018 (28)
- August 2018 (39)
- July 2018 (27)
- June 2018 (33)
- May 2018 (25)
- April 2018 (26)
- March 2018 (34)
- February 2018 (35)
- January 2018 (44)
- December 2017 (38)
- November 2017 (36)
- October 2017 (33)
- September 2017 (38)
- August 2017 (36)
- July 2017 (40)
- June 2017 (34)
- May 2017 (43)
- April 2017 (47)
- March 2017 (45)
- February 2017 (47)
- January 2017 (54)
- December 2016 (60)
- November 2016 (54)
- October 2016 (47)
- September 2016 (54)
- August 2016 (54)
- July 2016 (46)
- June 2016 (48)
- May 2016 (62)
- April 2016 (73)
- March 2016 (74)
- February 2016 (80)
- January 2016 (65)
- December 2015 (73)
- November 2015 (55)
- October 2015 (59)
- September 2015 (67)
- August 2015 (77)
- July 2015 (43)
- June 2015 (60)
- May 2015 (48)
- April 2015 (51)
- March 2015 (55)
- February 2015 (60)
- January 2015 (73)
- December 2014 (61)
- September 2014 (52)
- December 2010 (1)
- November 1920 (1)