On ‘Milk for Farmers’ plan

sumer wrote to Morrisons: “I’ve just seen Milk For Farmers on your website. Will this [the additional levy] be all [going] to British farmers as the Union Jack on the bottle suggests?”

Six months ago, Morrisons modified its packaging to address concerns.

But the milk cartons still contain a small version of the Union flag and the front of the pack reads: “Milk for Farmers, you give back to dairy farmers”.

Arla’s website states: “You give an extra 23p per bottle to Arla Foods – a dairy cooperative 100pc owned by dairy farmers for the benefit of dairy farmers. Arla distributes this premium to all its farmer owners in the UK and other European countries.” Morrisons denied its campaign is misleading, pointing out the Union flag shows all its milk is produced on British farms.

It insisted it had never actually said all the money would go to UK farmers.

The supermarket chain also disputed the Kantar Worldpanel data, saying its actual sales figures would have seen £360 go to all Arla farmers.

However, this means each UK farmer could have taken £1,600 this year had the money only been for them.

The “For Farmers” brand, which includes cheeses, was launched after a backlash against supermarkets over the low prices paid to UK dairy farmers. AHDB Dairy, a not-for-profit organisation which works on behalf of British farmers, said that sales data for other supermarkets’ Milk for Farmers schemes was unavailable at the moment as they had not been running for at least a year.

Morrisons said: “Our customers tell us they welcome the opportunity to give extra money to dairy farmers if they so choose.

“The packaging on our Milk for Farmers products is clear that this extra money is distributed by Arla to its farmers in the UK and European countries.”

Arla declined to comment. Asda did not respond to a request for comment.