Several supermarkets across the UK have announced changes to prices paid to producers for liquid milk, following protests by farmers in stores over the past few weeks.

Asda and Lidl, who operate in both Britain and Northern Ireland, agreed to pay 38c/l (28p/l) to producers for liquid milk from last week.

In Britain, Aldi also agreed to 38c/l (28p/l) for liquid milk to producers from last week and Morrisons will pay 35c/l (26p/l) in addition to launching a new brand “Milk for Farmers” in the autumn.

The new brand will be sold alongside standard milk but promises to pay 10p/l more to farmers, meaning a four-pint bottle will cost consumers 31c (23p) more. Likewise, cheese sold under the brand will cost 46c (34p) per pack more than the standard cheese. According to Morrisons’ own research, 41% of consumers are willing to pay this.

In NI, Asda and Lidl source liquid milk from United Dairy Farmers’ Dale Farm and Strathroy Dairy, respectively. In total, approximately 5% of milk output from NI farms is sold by supermarkets as liquid milk.

Last week, Dale Farm chief executive David Dobbin said that revenue from the premium price for liquid milk will be shared across all members of the co-op and that there was no clause with Asda to pay 38c/l (28p/l) to liquid milk producers only.

Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) president Ian Marshall welcomed the announcement, calling it “a step in the right direction,” but he called for an extension of the initiative across more products.

Most protests in NI have been organised recently by groups of farmers locally at supermarkets and distribution depots without farmer organisations. However, Farmers for Action has been protesting recently in NI and across Britain for several weeks.

Many protesters see the liquid price rises as insignificant due to the small proportion of liquid milk sold in NI and also because the price rise is presumed to be small as the supermarkets would not confirm the price paid prior to last week.