Letter: Farmers need help over milk prices

We must support our farmers before it's too late.

Yet again we find ourselves being lulled into a false sense of security. While we have been celebrating The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Euro 2012, Wimbledon and shortly the Olympics, the farmers who produce our milk are facing extinction because they can no longer sustain price cuts forced upon them.

Whatever happened to our Milk Marketing Board? It was probably dissolved by politicians and other bure-aucrats possibly to come in line with EU legislation.

What about the Potato Marketing Board or the British Sugar Corporation? These went the same way and the farmers lost any protection of their livelihoods by being eaten up by bureaucrats from the EU.

Now with the atrocious weather, it seems that many farmers will not be able to produce sufficient foodstuffs because of crop failures due to rain and drought.

One of the main killers are the supermarkets who dictate the prices and sometimes entire fields of crops have been rejected because they do not meet the standard required. This has seen the ruination of many farmers in recent years.

Can I suggest you write to your MP or boycott supermarkets who are supplied by Robert Wiseman, Dairy Crest or Arla Foods UK?

Perhaps if the farmers boycott the three big processors and sell them milk to the smaller processors – the bully boys think again.

The farmers cannot do this by themselves. They need our help.

Trevor Mytton

Cross Houses

Shrewsbury

See also:

• Farming leaders warn on milk prices

• Why dairies are not creaming off milk profits

• Dairy farmers taking milk price battle to London