British farmers declare ‘crisis’ following milk price protests

The need for change had never been more evident, he said.

In 1999 the payout was at $3.42.

If the collapse of dairy farming continues, there will be no going back. The fact that $4.40 today translates to $3.01 in 1999 dollar terms has prompted this contribution.

After two years, assuming the farmgate milk price did not reach $6, some recompense in the form of interest would be paid on the loan, although that was sure to be at lower than unit-holders’ expected return on equity.

To help deal with the challenging conditions, Fonterra last week announced shareholders would be able to apply for a 50c loan for every kilogram of milk solids they produced and were shared up for. In my opinion, that is not a comfortable position for the fish – especially in times of drought.

DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says the drop in the level of payments over a season will keep dairy farmers’ cash income constrained for at least the next 18 months and it will take some farmers many years to recover from these low milk prices. They should be ensuring that all the milk they purchase is purchased at a price that is sustainable for those who are producing.

The New Zealand dollar is holding just above 66 US cents this morning, trading at 66.12.

He added: “We are disappointed with the disruption being caused to our stores and our customers”.

But is protecting the dairy farmers and perhaps forgoing membership in the TPP a good idea for Canadians other than dairy farmers? Over that time, costs of production and compliance have increased markedly. “Everybody’s looking for a free check once in a while, but I think the majority of dairy producers in the industry see the bigger picture here – that it’s a frivolous lawsuit…”

Mr Beatson believed processors needed to put greater investment into research and development to make high-value products.

Under the proposal to settle the lawsuit, which must be approved by a judge, DFA would pay an average of about $4,000 each to about 9,000 farmers across the Northeast.

“We were pretty much excluded during the process”, he said.

The falling price of milk has been scattered among the headlines in recent years and this week has been no exception. The buyers of our commodities breathed easy. In addition, the cooperative status should be revoked from the business and it should undergo a court-ordered restructuring to make it a regularly traded company to improve its transparency, he said.

It’s human nature to point the finger at the big players but, many sectors need to shoulder responsibility including successive governments and farmers themselves. Aspects of the DIRA2001 are woeful. If the industry is destroyed, the shape of our countryside will be changed forever. Fonterra is obliged to provide rival processors with a regulated quantity of milk at farm-gate prices – what other industry does that?

Now that would create an interesting playing field.

The milk would be exactly the same type as the regular brand but the extra cash would be “passed back directly to dairy farmers”.

Fonterra lowered its forecast from $5.25 kgMS to $3.85kg milk solids for the 2015-16 season on August 7 due to the continued significant imbalance in the global dairy market between weak demand and surplus supply.

And the agricultural industry has allowed all this to happen.

“Any temporary suspension by Fonterra is not an end to GDT but says enough is enough”.