Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support milk producers in ensuring milk prices in supermarkets are maintained.

George Eustice

We support the farming industry by reducing red tape, funding research to foster innovation, extending the tax averaging period for self-employed farmers and working to open up new export markets.

To provide some relief to hard-pressed farmers we secured a £26.6m aid package for the UK from the European Commission – the third largest of all Member States. Dairy farmers across the UK are being paid a one-off, flat rate payment linked to milk production. The majority of payments were made by the RPA on 16 November 2015.

The Government is working with the food industry – including supermarkets, retailers, manufacturers and caterers – on even more consistent labelling and branding of British dairy products, improving transparency across the supply chain and allocating more space on shop shelves. This will make it easier for consumers and food businesses to know when they are buying British dairy products.

A number of supermarkets have pledged to pay a premium over and above the current market price and we should welcome that. It won’t solve the problem but it will give some respite to farmers.