Industry takes steps to find new milk buyers

Jun 22 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

HELP has been offered to farmers who have yet to find buyers for their milk following the collapse of Dairy Farmers of Britain.

As receivers of the DFB continue to look for a buyer for depots of the collapsed firm, including the site in Blaydon which employs 500 workers directly and indirectly, moves are underway to find a market for the farmers’ produce.

The National Farmers’ Union has joined forces with English Farming and Food Partnerships (EFFP) and Dairy UK following a meeting involving industry bodies, government officials and receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Hayley Campbell Gibbons, the NFU’s chief dairy adviser, said: “Since DFOB went into receivership on June 3, everyone has been making every effort to ensure that as many farmers as possible have been able to find alternative buyers for their milk.

“The latest figures from the receivers reveal that some 200 of the initial 1,800 farmers have still not found a new home for their milk.

“Although this figure is an encouraging indicator that the vast majority of farmers have successfully found a new buyer, we must make sure that every possible avenue has been explored to find new buyers for these remaining farmers, for whom the only alternative option will be to exit the dairy industry. “Many of these farmers are situated in remote locations or are producing small volumes of milk and therefore are not attractive to the larger milk buyers, most of whom have now taken on their maximum capacity of additional supply.

“However, the NFU has received a number of concerning reports from young dairy farmers who have expansion plans that have been caught out by these events, as well as a number of progressive, enthusiastic and specialist producers who passionately wish to remain in dairying.”