Morrisons is to offer customers a more expensive brand of milk to help struggling dairy farmers.
British farmers claim supermarket price wars are forcing them out of business by slashing what they are paid for produce.
They say superstores now pay less for milk than it costs to produce – while store bosses blame a fall in demand for milk.
However, in a survey, more than half of people said they were willing to pay more for milk to help British farmers. Yesterday, after days of protests, Morrisons decided to put the idea to the test.
Dairy farmers clear supermarket shelves of milk in protes
The firm announced it will sell a new Milk For Farmers brand from October that will cost 23p more for four pints – or 10p extra per litre. The extra money will supplement what farmers have already been paid.
A farmer-friendly four-pint carton will cost about £1.12 – compared with 89p for the cheapest version, which will still be sold.
Morrisons has been one of the main targets for protesting farmers, who stripped milk from the shelves and dumped it at tills.
The National Farmers’ Union claims the crisis could force thousands of farmers to quit and some British produce could disappear from supermarket shelves.
Morrisons director Martyn Jones said: ‘We will be launching a brand that allows customers to pay more to support farmers.
‘We’re doing our little bit to help at a time when we have both consumers operating on tight budgets, but also hard-working dairy farmers and their families feeling the squeeze.’
Mr Jones was grilled on whether the supermarket had simply spotted a golden marketing opportunity by launching a new brand in the middle of the crisis.
But he insisted the retailer was only interested in ‘finding practical ways of helping farmers in the current situation’.
British farmers claim supermarket price wars are forcing them out of business by slashing what they are paid for produce. They say superstores now pay less for milk than it costs to produce – while store bosses blame a fall in demand for milk
David Handley, of Farmers For Action, said protests would continue, although not against Morrisons.
Farmers estimate it costs around 31p to produce a litre of milk but the average price paid across the UK is less than 24p following a drop of 25 per cent in a year.
NFU president Meurig Raymond, whose 600 dairy cattle supplied 4 million litres of milk to Dairycrest last year, said the NFU would now be writing to other sellers, urging them to follow Morrisons’ lead.
Union officials blame retailers for slashing the prices they pay farmers to cover price cuts on the shelves.
But supermarkets said the shelf price was not linked to how much they paid farmers and instead blamed a fall in worldwide demand for milk.
Farmers are also suffering from a strong pound, which makes imports from overseas farmers cheaper but renders British exports more expensive and less competitive
Source: The Daily Mail
