A compulsory code of practice and greater political intervention could protect beleaguered dairy farmers from dairy price volatility, MPs have suggested.
An all-party debate held yesterday (5 November) in Westminster Hall to discuss the crisis in the dairy industry heard a number of MPs call for greater government intervention to safeguard farmers against current low prices.
In suggesting transforming the dairy industry’s voluntary code of practice into a statutory instrument, Liberal Democrat MP David Heath warned the “devaluing of milk” had become unsustainable and created “an unstable supply chain”.
However, farming minister George Eustice said a recent review of the code found it to be fit for purpose, and already boasted an 85% coverage of the industry.
Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards bemoaned the lack of action by the Labour-led Welsh government in protecting farmers in Wales, while Conservative MP Andy Hart suggested the government could still do more when it came to procurement and labelling policies and called for more investigations into the viability of dairy futures.
“If the industry was prepared to enter a situation where it could play the futures market we could look at longer-term contracts based on a less volatile future price,” he said.
Elsewhere, Labour MP Albert Owen called for an increased push to promote provenance to boost dairy sales, and renewed calls for the Groceries Code Adjudicator to investigate the entire dairy supply chain.
“Milk and bread has always been a loss leader for the supermarkets,” said Conservative MP Guto Bebb, who added “the loss should be borne by the supermarkets”.
Her comments were echoed by shadow environment, food and rural affairs minister Angela Smith, who claimed “creating the illusion that food is cheap” was damaging the agriculture industry.
“Volatility is the new challenge facing the industry,” added Eustice, who suggested co-op members could do more to leverage their power over dairy prices.
No comments yet