Letter: Vital farmers receive fair price for milk

Dairy farmers are committed people.

They work unsocial hours seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year.

They look after their animals to the very highest standards and are continually under scrutiny from various agencies, at a cost they have to bear.

As a campaigner for Fair Trade for many years I have always believed that fair trade is not just for the developing world but for our local farmers and producers as well.

It is vital that all farmers and producers receive a fair price for the fruits of their labour.

It will be an indictment on us all if we do not speak out and then lose our local dairy farmers who have worked to supply our needs for generations.

If we have to import milk from other countries because our dairy farmers have gone out of business think about what that means; for our farming families and communities, for the economy, for the carbon footprint.

Please note the price of a litre in milk in Spain in April was 89 cents (69p per litre). In England milk is sold for 49p per pint.

Further, we support the local milkman by having the milk delivered to our door at a cost of 66p per pint.

Therefore all dairy farmers must receive a fair price for the milk they produce if we are to continue to have milk production in this country.

Veronica and Ian Fletcher,

Telford