Where do you think your milk comes from if you live in Britain? (and your butter and cheese).....its those lovely cows milked by those rustic fellows called farmers......? Or is it?? Do you care??
Well you should! Click on the link above to catch up on a scandal hitting the dairy industry.....and get up and do something.....email your MP, write to the PM, boycott the imports.....Um what imports?
Well.....let me explain!
Most of us drink or use milk, eat cheese, enjoy yoghurt and fromage frais etc....but do you know where it comes from, do you know what is happening to our dairy farms? This week 10% of the milk still produced in Britain was under threat with the receivers being called in to the group known as 'Dairy Farmers of Great Britain' (DFoGB) a co op dedicated to fair returns for its members. The reason was because they lost the contract with the Co-operative supermarket chain....a supermarket group that prides itself on its fair trade principles and ethics..........well I will not be going there anymore!
We are losing 2 dairy farmers a day, 10% have quit in the last 10 years, we have 200,000 less dairy cattle this year than last year. Many have been culled due to TB known often as the silent killer as its not reported the same way foot and mouth was, The average age of a British farmer is 58 years old.....so give it a few years and there will be very few family dairy farms left......
We eat a lot of Somerset Brie.....as do I suspect some of my blog readers....have you noticed its abscence in the last few weeks.....or Capricorn goats cheese...notably absent too....both made by the DFoGB group. It costs 27p per litre to produce milk, the farmers belonging to the group who were producing 10% of Britains milk are currently being paid 10p per litre......and have a look in the shop next time you buy milk......how much are you paying for it? Just think how much is going to the producer?
But of course we must not worry, because the milk bottles of Britain will not run dry.....they are importing record amounts of milk from Holland, Belgium and Ireland.........have we totally lost the plot?
8 comments:
I've been following this on Farming Today, but missed the Co-op link; will investigate that further and write I think.
Thanks for the timely post, life is becoming more and more difficult to live properly.
MrsL
xx
I'm truly disappointed to hear of the Co-op's part in this. I rely on them, plus the local choices at other supermarkets, to keep me on the straight and narrow. It always seems hypocritical to me that organisations are all for the Fairtrade mark when it comes to the third world, but not on their own doorstep.
Of course the problem is here in France too. Many protests and blackades..the signs say the farmer gets 20 cents per litre.
Meanwhile the supermarkets still manage record profits, am I missing something?
It's not just the dairy farmers who will suffer, it is all the associated industries as well.
I am an NSM, i.e. I do what I do for love, not money. I once had a business that built specialised trailer for the farming industry, the operative word being 'once'.
The realisation will only hit home when it is too late Val...
It makes as much sense as our government paying 2K to people to scrap their old cars in order to stimulate the economy. The cars that are then purchase are made mainly in Germany, France, Spain etc.
It would seem that our industries, manufacturing and farming are being slowly destroyed. Yes Val, the plot has, as you write, totally been lost!
I heard about this on the radio news, I love somerset brie, the world is indeed going mad. I will write in support. Hope it helps
Yes the problem is a widespread one....20c a litre is bad in France, i heard the farmers there were giving away milk outside supermarkets to demonstrate a point!
The idea of writing to the supermarkets to complain is good as I believe their consumer services departments have to take notice if people complain....or vote with their feet!
Letters in support of farmers I think are very welcome too....but the most important thing is to tell people....anyone who will listen about what is going on!
I think we have totally lost hte plot, and just at a time when really its more important than ever that we should start to really get it....
It is a real shame that people are still very ignorant to the plight of dairy farmers. Maybe farmers should start selling milk in markets, just to make it more accessible to people, as of course the first place people go to is the supermarket. I'm sure most city people don't know farm shops exist.
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