Sir, – Yet again I hear on the news that supermarkets are cutting the price they pay to farmers for milk.

How can anyone run a business when the customer dictates what they want to pay for a product irrespective of whether or not the supplier makes a profit?

Just because the major supermarkets are suffering at the moment due to new businesses selling quality products much cheaper, that is not an excuse to say that goods will not be paid for at a profitable rate; to me that shows we have been overcharged for a long time,

After all, if I went to do my weekly shop and went to the checkout to pay and said that as a pensioner I can only pay threequarters of the till price I would be immediately kicked out of the store. I think it is about time the government stopped this practice especially as the farming industry is already at the mercy of the weather and other factors.

The milk price is always the first to be hit every time the supermarkets suffer so we should revert back to doorstep deliveries; this would also create more jobs and a profitable outlet for the dairy farmers

COLIN ATKINSON

Guisborough Road, Great Ayton.