This is a subscriber-only article
I always knew that one day there would be a demand for the re-establishment of the Milk Marketing Board, but I didn’t expect it to happen in my lifetime.
COVID-19 and the spring flush, coupled with severe financial problems of several of the large processors here, created the perfect hurricane to see spot prices fall not to 0p/l but to -3p/l, yes, minus – that’s if you pay to have it picked up!
One processor is picking up only six days out of seven. Some have dropped the price and one is paying only 6p/l, the remainder delayed. There is an old saying in rented property circles: “If you can’t pay this month, you for sure can’t pay two months’ rent next month.” The same applies to the milk cheque.
We in First Milk, the only remaining British co-op, are delighted that we have the “pocket rocket” Shelagh Hancock, the lass with origins in the Emerald Isle, who came to First Milk as CEO with a working knowledge of the dairy industry. She has done more than anyone to make First Milk an organisation to be proud of and moved us towards the top of the non-aligned milk price league.
Make more motorways and more cars appear, higher milk prices create higher cost of production
On many family farms, it was the younger, upcoming generation who persuaded Dad or Granddad to chase the extra penny without checking the contract for pandemics, force majeure and such like, allowing the milk buyer not to pay in times like these. Milk contracts should be symbiotic, meaning both parties benefit, not parasitic, where the parasite eventually kills the host. Co-ops are now the place to be.
Milk dumping
Many producers, facing uncertain times and possible financial ruin (a friend of mine in mid Wales has been dumping 11,000 litres for seven days), are like chickens in the sunshine - when the thunderstorm breaks they run for the chicken house, only to find the door locked and entry only for paid up members. Why should First Milk let them in and blow the roof off, causing suffering for all of us who have supported the organisation through recent difficult days?
I have a theory that a higher milk price is like building more motorways. Make more motorways and more cars appear, higher milk prices create higher cost of production. Those of us who stayed with First Milk through the difficult times of 2016, getting only 14p/l, have of necessity a lower cost of production.
I have always been fascinated, but unable to understand, why the milk price rise and fall is mirrored in the oil price. I have discovered that the oil-producing countries are the biggest buyers of skim milk powder and therefore create a knock-on effect.
SHARING OPTIONS: