Member Article

British Dairy Farmers Revolt!

Hundreds of farmers have blockaded milk plants in protest at supermarket prices for the product. They also held marches to campaign against processors cutting up to 2p a litre.

Their cause has been backed by celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who urged the public to boycott those supermarkets which they believe are the worst offenders. Farmers targeted at least three milk plants.

The Robert Wiseman Dairy processing plant off junction 24 of the M5 near Bridgwater in Somerset was blockaded by between 600 and 700 farmers with their tractors on Thursday night.

Farmers also staged a protest outside the Arla plant in Leeds, while 400 farmers also gathered outside the Arla plant in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in Leicestershire. Organisers there delivered a letter to the site manager asking for the reinstatement of previous prices and said they would not move until they got a response.

Personally I have a great deal of sympathy for the British dairy famers who, let’s face it, do not make huge profits and who have had a pretty tough time in recent years with Foot & Mouth, Mad Cow Disease etc. It seems inequitable that that big business has squeezed them almost to the point of collapse.

This is a long running saga which big business has failed totally to tackle and which has brought the UK dairy farming industry to its knees. For years and years milk has been used by the large supermarkets as a commodity and has been a major price indicator for competitive comparisons. This had led to big business pressurizing mainly small farmers into narrower and narrower margins during a time when fed prices and fuel prices have been rising.

The NFU, MP’s from rural areas, and organisations such at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society have been warning for years that the situation is becoming dire and now the backlash has begun!

Personally I am not surprised by the support that the farmers have had from across the UK. The public are fed up with big business, from BP, to the Banks, and G4S, we are becoming increasingly annoyed at the way in which we have been treated. If big business does not act soon and act decisively this campaign could do significant and lasting reputational damage.

In order to avoid issues like this recurring businesses really need to examine their business practices and ask themselves whether the way they do business is really equitable. Instead of paying lip service to their CSR policies and their supply agreements, they are going to need to prove that they are behaving in a fair and reasonable manner.

Phil Dibbs

Managing Director

Hawkmoor Associates Limited

www.hawkmoorassociates.com

phil@hawkmoorassociates.com

www.twitter.com @hawkmoortweets

07866362333

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Phil Dibbs .