Supermarkets and Dairy Farmers

Seeing the story on the news did get me thinking how the hell they can buy it for less than it costs to produce. The Co-Op was also made out to be the hero in all of this because they're willing to buy it for what it costs to produce! Yeah, Farmers do this because they enjoy keeping Dairy cows and working from the moment the sun rises till the sun sets, the money is just a bonus...
 
If the farmers are making a loss on every pint they sell then they should call the Supermarkets/Processors bluff and just start throwing it down the drain, I'm sure there's no way they could make up the shortfall in the short term.

Could be risky though as I'm sure in the medium/long term they could source all of our milk needs outside the UK.
 
Milk isn't a product that would I buy imported, it needs to be on the shelf as quickly as possible and for that I would want it from UK farms (ideally local to the area).

If the current price isn't sustainable then the price should go up, farmers need to make a living and I can't see the middlemen taking a smaller cut so it will have to come from either the customer, retailer or both.
 
The cost of production would be worked out to average the cost of feed and man power over a year im guessing.

The bigger the farm the more you could lower the producion cost but you have to reach a level where its simply not possible to get it lower... and we are already there apparently, thats why the demonstrations. This has been going on for years but now the crunch has come, it cant get any lower.
 
It's a scandal in itself that Muller was allowed to purchase Wiseman Dairys.

Muller already buy their milk direct from Farmers, all they're doing is getting a strangle hold on the market and forcing the price down.

It's price fixing IMO.

Farmers son here, the Milk Price has always been **** IMO. Which is why I have little or no interest in following in my Parents footsteps and milking cows.
Mum does all the milking, the hours my Parents and I put in across the year is simply mad. 99% of the Public don't realise the hard work that goes on to try and make a living.
 
If your not making money, get out of that business.

Supply will go down, and prices will rise. Markets are meant to automatically correct themselves like that.

The farmers just want the market rigged, so they're always profitable regardless of how efficient they are.

Some companies are just stuck in "Ye Olde" mode, and refuse to make efficiency improvements with mechanisation and such. Allowing them to stay in that mindset will reduce the efficiency of the economy.
 
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TaKeN said:
Mum does all the milking, the hours my Parents and I put in across the year is simply mad. 99% of the Public don't realise the hard work that goes on to try and make a living.
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No offence but aren't cows milked by machines nowadays? It's not like the old days when you had to sit their on a little stool doing it manually.

That's not to say it isn't hard work, but surely it's easier now then it's ever been.
 
It's not just the farmers in trouble with this, though they do have it rough. Supermarkets have got such a strangle hold on the supply of food to the country, they are in the unusual position that they dictate what price they will pay to their suppliers.

Don't like it? Tough...they will get it from someone else. Suppliers need the access to the market the supermarkets offer.

Also, all the BOGOFs you see, it's not the supermarket who takes the hit on that, they tell the supplier they are selling X item on a BOGOF and the supplier takes the hit.

Also, for every complaint they receive (Like I complained about their **** bags always splitting) is an automatic £15 fine to the supplier.

They then usually comeback for a seasonal retrospective turnover discount too..They have created a very tight cut throat world for food producers (I have a couple of friends who work in the food industry and supply, Tesco, Sainsburies, Waitrose etc)

Then think about how much food has increased over the last 18 months....due to the market speculation on commodities, the supplier doesn't see any of this.
 
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Freakbro said:
It's not just the farmers in trouble with this, thought they do have it rough. Supermarkets have got such a strangle hold on the supply of food to the country, they are in the unusual position that they dictate what price they will pay to their suppliers.

Don't like it? Tough...they will get it from someone else. Suppliers need the access to the market the supermarkets offer.

Also, all the BOGOFs you see, it's not the supermarket who takes the hit on that, they tell the supplier they are selling X item on a BOGOF and the supplier takes the hit.

Also, for every complaint they receive (Like I complained about their **** bags always splitting) is an automatic £15 fine to the supplier.

They then usually comeback for a seasonal retrospective turnover discount too..They have created a very tight cut throat world for food producers - and then realise how much food has increased over the last 18 months.
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Well that means there to many suppliers... It has to get to the point where if the supermarket wants to meet demand, they HAVE to choose the suppliers which are left, then power is in the suppliers hand. That's how supply/demand equilibrium is reached.


However a real concern is are the supermarkets in collusion, stopping this process happening legitimately?
 
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