Morrisons Launches Pro-Farmer Milk Brand

Ash Amirahmad, who is in charge of Arla’s milk division, said, “Our farmers are incredibly concerned at the moment”.

The move comes after Morrisons last week threatened legal action against protesters for disrupting its business.

Morrison’s had been the focus for the “Milk Trolley Challenge” protests of a week previously, which began in Yate, near Bristol, and quickly went viral.

The heifers were accompanied to the Stafford store by around 70 protesters – and the police.

It claimed that, in general, voluntary codes are not sufficient and said government intervention in retail and supplier practices is needed to ensure the future of the British supply chain.

Speaking outside the summit, Mr Raymond said: “Obviously the industry is in crisis”.

Afterwards the supermarket’s 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”.

“The average dairy farmer is producing about 2,500 litres of milk per day”.

But supermarkets said the shelf price was not linked to how much they pay producers and blamed a fall in global demand for milk.

A survey of milk drinkers found they would be willing to pay £1.28 for four pints of milk.

NFU Scotland President Allan Bowie said there was strong support from the public at the protests and that farmers are in a “position of desperation”.

The challenge sees farmers removing all cartons of milk from shops including Morrisons and Lidl before paying for it and taking it away or dumping it at the checkout.

Farmers estimate it costs between 30p and 32p to produce a litre of milk but the average price paid across the UK is 23.66p following a drop of 25 per cent in a year.

David Handley, chairman of Farmers For Action (FFA), is attending the summit, which will also examine prices paid to arable and lamb farmers.

Morrisons bosses on Tuesday met with farming industry leaders over the milk “crisis” that has sparked weeks of protests from dairy farmers up and down the country.

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. “Now we need to ensure that Morrisons’ performance on dairy delivers for British farmers as they already do on red meat and poultry”.

“We would now please ask everyone to focus their attention on other retailers whilst talks with Morrisons take place”.

Last night, 1,000 farmers gathered at Morrisons depot in Bridgwater, Somerset, while 600 blockaded another in Middlewich, Cheshire.

“Therefore, now where do we go?”

“It’s the hardest it’s been for years and I hope that people start to take notice now”.

The NFU says that retailers must also stop devaluing UK milk to bring in customers.

“The turnout is excellent, it’s one of the first times that no matter what you do in farming, they’re all united”. There’s despair within our members.