The protest will "highlight the disastrous situation that is now surrounding British food production," said David Handley in a press release. Handley is a dairy farmer from Monmouthshire who chairs Farmers For Action (FFA).

"We need to get noticed," said FFA activist Bob Robertson is a phone interview. "We may have problems getting support from some of the bigger farmers who claim that they have too much to lose, but we either all hang separately or we fight together."

"We’re ready to throw away our milk for a day or more if we can get a fair price for what we produce," said Brian Hewlett, whose sons run their 160-acre dairy farm near Yeovil in Somerset. Hewlett drives lorries for a local haulage firm in order to supplement the family income.

In an interview he said that declining farm income is fueling the protest. "Six years ago we were able to get 22-23p [100p=£1 =US$1.53] a liter for our milk. It dropped to 16p, rose to 18p over the past 15 months, and has now dropped even lower--to 13p. This is just not sustainable," Hewlett said. "Farmers on average need to make 20p a liter to cover production costs--that is without hiring anyone to work for you. It is not so bad for us. We have 160 acres, but for farmers just starting up it is far worse. Somerset County Council rents 80-acre farms to those coming into the industry. Years back you could make a living from 80 acres, but not now."  
Processors impose price cuts
In order to increase their profit margins, major processors have imposed price cuts in recent months on dairy farmers. Express Dairies followed Dairy Crest and Wiseman Dairies in knocking down the price it pays to farmers in mid-July. The prices cuts are not reflected in the price working people pay for milk at shops and supermarkets.

According to a survey by farm accountants, the drop in farm incomes is slowing, but agricultural profits have slumped by 80 percent over the past five years. Profits for September 2001 to April 2002 dropped to an average £125 a hectare--down from £130 per hectare the previous 12 months. A recent National Farmers Union survey, which took into account smaller farms, found that the average farmer’s income is still only £10,000.

Because this figure is an average, the income of many working farmers remains substantially below what most other working people expect to earn over a year.

Farmers For Action organized nighttime blockades in July of Wiseman and Dairy Crest dairies in Manchester, Worcestshire, Chard, London, and Davidstow in Corn–wall. In early August around 35 farmers blockaded the Wiseman’s dairy in Taunton from midnight for a few hours, Brian Hewlett said.

"My sons took part and they reported that the drivers at the dairy supported the action," Hewlett explained. "None of them brought their lorries out. The action was a success. But the companies like to get us negotiating and stop any action so that they can drag discussions out. But we’ll keep hanging in there. We won’t give up."

"I don’t want a grant or subsidy," Hewlett said. "Farmers can get £80 an acre subsidy for taking land out of production, for doing nothing. That is wrong. But I do want farmers to get a price for what we produce that allows us to live off what we do and make enough to reinvest--that is all."

Following threats of protests by a different group of farmers on August 12, the government’s agricultural department DEFRA has agreed to relax rules that restrict farmers’ ability to sell recently purchased livestock. These were imposed in the wake of the crisis created by government restrictions following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease last year. DEFRA has agreed that sheep and cattle used for breeding this season, which go into a strict on-farm isolation facility for 20 days on arrival, will not lock up the rest of the farm’s livestock.

Jonathan Barber, a Norfolk farmer who is the spokesperson for the group that’s behind the threatened protest, said for the moment he was urging farmers to stay at home. "We’ve got as much as we can at this stage," he said. "A combination of pressure and negotiation has helped us tremendously, providing that the anomalies are sorted out and the new rules are brought in at the right time."

The August 23 one-day strike does not have the support of the National Farmers Union, the largest farmers organization in the UK, which is dominated by the interests of wealthier capitalist farmers. The FFA notes, however, that as farmers prepare for the action support is widening, including from the National Pig and National Beef Association and from farmers in Ireland.

The FFA is calling on farmers to donate produce that they would have taken to market on the day of the strike to the Food For Africa charity. "As farmers we are fully aware of the tragic situation that is taking place on the African continent with the famine that is taking thousands of lives weekly," said the organization’s press statement.

"The supermarkets may attempt to prepare as well, by stocking up in advance, but we have to do something to draw attention to what is happening to farming," said Bob Robertson. According to the FFA press release, "If we are not listened to we intend to escalate this action over the coming months. Plans are already afoot for action throughout the autumn and winter period. We will be calling on all of the 128 so-called bodies that speak on behalf of agriculture to back this strike."

Paul Davies works at a meatpacking plant in London.  
 
 
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