Unions band together in effort to get fairer milk contracts

UK farming leaders yesterday combined to try and ensure milk contracts in the future would be fairer, more effective and equitable than they have been.

Speaking on behalf of the Scottish, English, Welsh and Ulster NFUS, Scotland’s milk committee chairman John Smith, a dairy farmer from Kintyre, said: “We welcome the fact that the government has listened to our call, in the Grocery Code Adjudicator (GCA) consultation, for a fairer, more balanced supply chain.”

He added there were still some concerns about unfair trading practices in the supply chain, in particular among primary producers, before plus specific concerns about the balance of bargaining power, unfair or unclear contract terms and a lack of trust and transparency that discouraged good relation-

0 Unclear contract terms was one of the concerns raised ships across the supply chain.

“All these concerns were raised in our respective responses to the GCA consultation last year and we welcome Defra’s recognition of the need for fairer, more balanced contracts.”

Smith was optimistic about improvements in the supply chain, saying: “The farming unions have argued for fairer, more effective and equitable milk contracts for many years and this is a huge opportunity for the entire UK dairy sector.”

But he was not impressed with the current EU regulation on milk contracts, which he claimed was not suitable for the diverse UK dairy industry.

He said:“rather than rush through a text developed for the whole EU dairy sector, we would rather work with government on improving this text to achieve better results for UK dairy farmers and dairy processors.”