The average price paid to farmers for a litre of milk in July 2001 was 20.43p, but by July 2006 it had dropped to just 17.17p. A fall of 3.26p. Yet running costs have continued to rise.

With this in mind, the NFU's President, Peter Kendall, has agreed to speak to the county's dairy farmers. The theme of the meeting will be: What can we do about milk price?

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 31, at the Shepherd's Inn, Carlisle, starting at 10.30am.
Recent cuts have again demonstrated that the way in which the dairy supply chain is operating is to the detriment of dairy farmers.

NFU's North West Senior Policy Adviser, Adam Briggs, said: "Processors are quick to use the falling commodity prices as an excuse to reduce the farmgate milk price but when the commodity markets rise, the increasing value is never passed back to the dairy farmer.

Source: icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk