Farmers take milk off shelves at large supermarkets Re price of milk

[Treemover]

All farming is on its knees; tillage, dry stock, milk.

To say that's British or Irish agriculture needs a shake up, will be bad for us. Less farmers less services rurally; less appetite for banking, fuel etc. tourism won't pick up the slack as it's the farming we do presently that tourists expect to see.

No tourist wants to see a field with 4 acres of a mountain of waste going to be spread; sheds containing 1000-10000 animals.

 

I thought farming was heavily subsidised until I went out with girls that worked in companies and industry. Numerous firms have a huge amount of staff on grant schemes; shows, trips all grant funded; some premises, majority of kit; again all subsidised.

 

I don't know if it's the same in the UK; but in Ireland, if your broke down or in bother; it will usually be a farmer that will help out. I won't go dismissing a sector just so supermarkets make fast money.

[mendiplogs]

All farming is on its knees; tillage, dry stock, milk.

To say that's British or Irish agriculture needs a shake up, will be bad for us. Less farmers less services rurally; less appetite for banking, fuel etc. tourism won't pick up the slack as it's the farming we do presently that tourists expect to see.

No tourist wants to see a field with 4 acres of a mountain of waste going to be spread; sheds containing 1000-10000 animals.

 

I thought farming was heavily subsidised until I went out with girls that worked in companies and industry. Numerous firms have a huge amount of staff on grant schemes; shows, trips all grant funded; some premises, majority of kit; again all subsidised.

 

I don't know if it's the same in the UK; but in Ireland, if your broke down or in bother; it will usually be a farmer that will help out. I won't go dismissing a sector just so supermarkets make fast money.

 

Hi mate your right there thanks Jon

[csservices]

Other industries like deep cast coal mining/ textiles/ consumer electronic production/ ship building etc have left Britain because they were uneconomic. I know this will sound heartless, but I don't really see what the big deal is if some milk farmers cease production.

 

When the shipyards closed down the sites were empty for decades, at least with the farming industry it's likely that dairy farms could be turned into beef farms etc within a few days...

 

It would take years to restock dairy farms as beef farms, as the beef herd has been run down so much over the last few years and is just recovering, given the gestation of a cow is 9 months and a cow needs to be 18-24 months old to start breeding it's not a quick or simple process.

[Mesterh]

Excuse my ignorance but I just don't have a clue how any of this works!

 

It costs a farmer say £1 to produce x amount of milk supermarkets pay him 80p, they sell it for£1.20 but say it is a loss leader! Are the farmers tied into selling it to the supermarkets at a loss? If so why can't they all get out and start again. Surely a few days stopping milk production might do the trick.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Excuse my ignorance but I just don't have a clue how any of this works!

 

 

 

It costs a farmer say £1 to produce x amount of milk supermarkets pay him 80p, they sell it for£1.20 but say it is a loss leader! Are the farmers tied into selling it to the supermarkets at a loss? If so why can't they all get out and start again. Surely a few days stopping milk production might do the trick.

 

 

I'm with you in "confused.com land."

 

I can't see how this makes any sense.

 

If you make something - sell it at a price you're happy with.

 

If the person you sold it to then sells it again, it's up to them what they sell if for. If they chose to sell it at a loss, so be it.

 

If you don't like the price you're being offered, don't sell your stuff.

 

If the stuff you make costs you more to make than you can sell it for.....

 

Surely that's day 1, week 1, economics?? It ain't going to end well.

[Logrod]

Farmers have always complained as has been said, but I'm not convinced that the milk production costs have factored in the generous subsidies for "environmental" or other. If farmers were truly in trouble they would be queuing up to get out of the business and the price of farmland would be falling sharply - I've only ever seen it go up, which suggests that both the farmers and the banks reckon that it's a profitable business overall. I'm sure some of the smaller ones struggle but that's true in most industries.

[mendiplogs]

Farmers have always complained as has been said, but I'm not convinced that the milk production costs have factored in the generous subsidies for "environmental" or other. If farmers were truly in trouble they would be queuing up to get out of the business and the price of farmland would be falling sharply - I've only ever seen it go up, which suggests that both the farmers and the banks reckon that it's a profitable business overall. I'm sure some of the smaller ones struggle but that's true in most industries.

 

Hi log the the way milk production will go is very large herds 500)1000 cows I think that's way to go thanks Jon

[matelot]

I can only assume that someone is forcing dairy farmers to keep producing milk despite years of the milk price being below production costs..

 

You would think that an industry like milk would be profitable in the UK due to there being little foreign competition ie short life span and low value/high bulk product.

[csservices]

Farmers have always complained as has been said, but I'm not convinced that the milk production costs have factored in the generous subsidies for "environmental" or other. If farmers were truly in trouble they would be queuing up to get out of the business and the price of farmland would be falling sharply - I've only ever seen it go up, which suggests that both the farmers and the banks reckon that it's a profitable business overall. I'm sure some of the smaller ones struggle but that's true in most industries.

 

See my post further up, dairy farmers have been going out of business at approx 5 a week for last few years, the land price has nothing to do with the state of farming, it has been forced up by it being bought by investors, pension funds etc, I'm not saying there aren't farmers who play the system, personally I don't and never have claimed any subsidies, instead I work full time to support my farming and there are plenty of other small family farms in the same boat but we all get tarred with the same brush.

[mendiplogs]

See my post further up, dairy farmers have been going out of business at approx 5 a week for last few years, the land price has nothing to do with the state of farming, it has been forced up by it being bought by investors, pension funds etc, I'm not saying there aren't farmers who play the system, personally I don't and never have claimed any subsidies, instead I work full time to support my farming and there are plenty of other small family farms in the same boat but we all get tarred with the same brush.

 

Hi mate your right I no farmers that do not chaim any money thanks Jon