NORTH East dairy farmers say they are very much in the dark about what is happening at DFB – and one of their main concerns is finding a buyer for their milk.

Since the receivership announcement, PricewaterhouseCooper has been collecting and selling milk on their behalf.

“The milk is being picked up and paid for by the receiver.

“He’s acting as the chief executive and board of Dairy Farmers of Britain in receivership,” said Harold Foster, the area representative for DFB members.

“What happens next we don’t know. We know very little. It’s proving very difficult to find a buyer to buy our milk.

“People will be coming up to negotiate with potential buyers. It’s no good sitting around waiting for things to happen.”

Reports this week have suggested that unscrupulous buyers have been offering below market prices to desperate members of the collapsed co-operative.

But Mr Foster said: “We haven’t had the luxury of that offer.

“We’re a small milk field on the east side, the Tyne Valley. There are very few people interested in our milk. It would be nice to find a buyer full stop.

“We are out of First Milk’s collection area. They will collect from Slaley but they don’t seem to know where Hexham is. First Milk is a potential one but they are probably sitting back to see what they can pick up.”

He said that affected dairy farmers on the west side of the country, where they are greater in number, are finding it much easier to sell their milk.

Mr Foster believes the problems at DFB are symptomatic of the “mess” that Britain’s milk producers are now having to deal with.

“It probably highlights the state of the UK dairy industry. It is in a mess. The supermarkets want the milk for nothing,” he said.

“Thousands of cows are slaughtered every year because of Hilary Benn’s lack of action on TB. This country is having to import dairy products.”

The NFU’s regional dairy board member Dennis Gibb, who sells his milk via First Milk, says that it is vital the creamery at Blaydon remains open.

“It needs to survive, not only for Dairy Farmers of Britain members but for other milk producers,” he said.

“How much money there will be at the end of the day, how much of their capital contribution Dairy Farmers of Britain members will get back – that has to be a big worry.”

Mr Gibb, who farms in partnership with his brother Richard at Eachwick Red House near Ponteland, says that the receivers are not selling the DFB members’ milk at low prices.

“The last thing they want to do is to undermine the milk market,” he added.