Farmers who wish to stay in dairying, and believe that with help they may have a viable future, are being offered the chance to talk through the options with an EFFP regional manager.

Where there could be an opportunity for dairy farmers to work together and jointly look at new options for marketing their milk, EFFP may be able to provide more detailed help.

EFFP can also put individual farmers who may need technical or financial advice in touch with Business Link who will be able to outline what support is available, including, in some cases, specialist agricultural consultants.

The NFU, EFFP and Dairy UK have also set up a linkage scheme which will hopefully enable farmers to make contact with smaller, specialist buyers and dairies who may be interested in taking on new suppliers.

David Neal-Smith, from EFFP, said: “Working with dairy farmers in Yorkshire and the North East, EFFP has already managed to help relocate a number of individual farmers, so I am confident that there are options out there for those farmers who believe they still have a viable future in dairy farming.”

Some 200 of the initial 1,800 farmers have still not found a new home for their milk.