12:20pm Friday 31st October 2008
THE exodus of farmers from the milk sector is expected to continue.
Martin Burtt, chairman of the NFU’s North-East regional dairy board, said a rise in the price earlier in the year had persuaded some to stay in dairying.
But soaring costs – including a trebling in fertiliser prices – meant the pressure was back on.
“The euphoria of a year ago is beginning to slip,” he told Tuesday’s board meeting at Ugthorpe Lodge, near Whitby.
This time last year milk auctions in Northern Ireland saw a price of 35 pence per litre paid – this year 30 million litres only averaged 18ppl.
He feared buyers of milk would use that to resist any pressure to increase the farm gate price to help farmers meet the hike in production costs.
Mr Burtt said: “I do not need to tell you that costs have gone up.
“I do not think we are a bit better off and have to recognise that the exodus out of milk will continue and over the next 12 months a lot more herds will go out of milk.”
He said the country was already one billion litres short of the national quota which had led to 500,000 litres of milk a day being imported from Northern Ireland.
Although it was coming from part of the UK the symbol of milk being put on a ship and brought in was worrying.
Mr Burtt said: “I do not know how much further British milk supplies must decrease to have any effect on British retailers.
“They are just sitting on their hands at the moment and, with the whole global economic situation, heaven knows how we are going to get through the next 12 to 18 months.”
Milk producers supported his views, finding it difficult to understand the lack of action from retailers over falling supplies.
The shortage of home produced milk should have led to a rise in farmgate prices, the meeting was puzzled why retailers were not showing concern.
One farmer understood the cost of transporting the Irish milk was expensive. He felt any threat of milk imports from the Continent would prove too costly.
Dairy farmers were urged to use the NFU milk contract template to win better deals.
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