Emma McClarkin MEP urges the EU to act swiftly to support struggling British dairy farmers

Emma McClarkin, East Midlands’ Conservative MEP, is greatly concerned by the extent to which Britain’s dairy industry has been hit by the global crisis of milk prices that have now been falling for nearly a decade. British dairy farmers’ profits have consequently sharply declined in the period, also a result of the soaring costs of fuel and food for cattle.

The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers statistics reveal the devastating consequence: the halving of the number of UK dairy farmers in the last ten years.

Emma McClarkin MEP, comments on the desperation of farmers in the wider European context. She states that ‘“milk strikes” across Europe, such as the refusal to deliver milk to industrial dairy conglomerates or, more dramatically, farmers in southern France who, two weeks ago, poured several tons of milk and cow dung inside a bank, accusing bankers of profiting whilst farmers face bankruptcy reveals the critical state of the industry’.

She adds that ‘British famers have not mirrored such action but this does not mean their plight is any less severe’.

The UK’s National Farmers Union (NFU) believes Miss McClarkin is rightly concerned and has briefed the EU’s Agricultural Committee this month on the issue of intervention measures to help struggling UK farmers. The NFU has said, regarding the report they discussed with the EU Agricultural Committee that ‘the EU dairy supply chain is not working effectively – the commission need to address the unfair distribution of margin and abuses of power. There also needs to be an examination of the contracts between dairy farmers and buyers whereas the commission has only committed to investigations between suppliers and retailers.’

Emma McClarkin argues that the NFU is correct in highlighting these issues. She observes that ‘a renegotiation of contracts in the industry is vital to readdress the current situation of low wholesale prices positioned against high retail prices of dairy products. High retail prices are greatly hindering farmers’ recovery by suppressing consumer demand’.

On 17th September at the plenary meeting in Strasbourg Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel did outline several measures to help EU dairy farmers. For example, a temporary increase in state aid limits to €15,000 per farmer and a plan to set up a working group of experts to look at contractual relations between farmers and the dairy industry.

Miss McClarkin states that ‘the EU Agriculture Committee is moving in the right direction but it is imperative that this group of experts must be established without delay. Today, Boultham Park Dairy in Lincoln is being auctioned online after its closure in June. This closure in my constituency like many others throughout the UK is a loss not only to the 127 dairy workers but also to the wider community.’

Miss McClarkin emphasises that she will contribute to help ensure that the commission enforces fair play throughout the whole supply chain. She states, ‘UK farmers such as those at Boultham Park Dairy took up the challenge of competing on world markets with relish. We must now ensure that the market does not deny British farmers the opportunity for trade fairly with just financial rewards’.