Cows make supermarket sweep as farmers stage milk protest

Farmers have said they require at least 30p to produce each litre.

Police were called to the store at around 12.30pm today after the heifers were accompanied by around 70 protesters.

Farmers around the country have been protesting against depressed prices for over a week, with videos online showing them entering supermarkets and clearing the shelves of milk.

The price supermarkets pay for a pint of milk has plummeted by 25% in just one year, with one industry expert warning: “A lot of dairy farmers are going to make some big decisions in the next few months”.

Farmers herded cows into an Asda supermarket, used tractors to blockade distribution centres and continued to buy up milk in bulk from stores over the weekend.

The study involved 1,270 milk drinkers and was carried out by market research organisation Mintel in June. Supermarket prices now range from 89p to £1.

Around 200 dairy producers have left the industry since January, according to the National Farmers Union (NFU).

Milk prices had already been falling steadily, but dove a further 30 percent in the past year as supermarkets engaged in a price war over dairy products.

Following their summit, the UK’s four farming unions called on ministers, major retailers, the discount chains and “key people in the supply chain” to meet with them to discuss how to give farmers “fairer and more transparent contracts”.

“We will continue our talks with the NFU”.

“I have written to my UK counterparts calling for a joint ministerial meeting on this issue”, he said.

A British Retail Consortium spokesman said: “The retail industry pays a fair price, with individual retailers using different payment models”.

Paul Frost, 56, is a fourth generation dairy farmer from Brent Knoll and has been milking cows since he was 13.

“It’s not a lack of effort or determination on Arla’s part; we are doing everything possible to help our farmer owners to navigate through this increasingly tough situation, in the best possible way”.

After the meeting, Morrisons corporate services director Martyn Jones said: “We will be launching a milk brand that allows customers to pay a little more if they want to support British farmers”.

He added that dairy farmers are paid an average of £28,000 a year from the taxpayer.

NFU President Meurig Raymond said: “The situation many of our members are experiencing has become a crisis”.

“We can confirm that we have asked our milk suppliers not to pass on further decreases in the current farmgate price to us, but to share any benefit with the dairy farmer instead”, it added.

The “Milk for Farmers” line is expected to cost around 10p more per litre than the retailer’s other offerings, with the extra being given to farmer members of Arla, the processor which supplies Morrisons.

“Naturally, we are concerned about the challenges faced by British farmers now as a result of volatility in global market conditions”.