The Hanworth protest was one of seven that day called by Farmers for Action (FFA) at Dairy Crest manufacturing and distribution sites across the country. The FFA has initiated a number of actions over recent days and weeks to protest low milk prices received by farmers.

“This week we have escalated up to going out all day and most of the night,” said FFA chair David Handley, according to Farmer Interactive. “On Sunday night alone we had 1,000 farmers out at various sites.” The National Farmers Union (NFU), the NFU Scotland, and the NFU Wales were also involved in the protests. As many as 200 farmers joined the peaceful blockade of Dairy Crest’s Aspatria factory near Carlisle, just south of the Scottish border.

“We’ve targeted Dairy Crest because the company refuses to pass back to the producers the 2 ppl ( pence per liter) increase in milk prices agreed to by the main supermarkets,” FFA Hampshire coordinator Bruce Horn said to the Militant at the Hanworth protest (100 pence = £1= US$1.66). “The supermarkets agreed on a £200 per [metric] ton increase on cheese, which is equivalent to the 2 ppl increase on liquid milk. Dairy Crest offered 3/4p on cheese and nothing on liquid.”

The protests had been effective, said Horn. “Last night the main Dairy Crest distribution center in Nuneaton was closed. Tonight there are protests across the country.”

Farm gate milk prices have fallen below production costs, said Youleite Parkes. She and her husband Peter, the FFA coordinator for Surrey, are dairy farmers in Reigate, about 30 miles south of London. “The average farm gate milk price is 17.5 ppl,” Yuleite Parkes said. “Because nearly all of our production is premium milk destined for London, we get 19 ppl. Further north, production is more weighted to cheese and the price is less, as low as 15 ppl for some. But we all need at least 21 ppl to cover costs and more to allow investment.

“Peter and I started farming five years ago when we took over from the in-laws. They used to get 25-28 ppl.” However, in the period since the government ended the Milk Marketing Board, she said, “the processors negotiate directly with the farmers’ co-ops and forced down the price. With the price collapse in recent years many farmers are being driven into debt or off the land altogether. We have to protest. The moment we stop protesting they’ll drive down the price even further.”

In 1995 farmers received 47 percent of the liquid milk price, but by 2000 this had fallen to 35 percent. Some have tried to compensate by increasing the size of their herd. But the consequence for most is mounting debt, said Will Hamilton, who has a herd of 60-70 Fresian cows and has participated in many such protests. Big capitalist processors like Dairy Crest and the supermarket chains scrape off the cream. The company’s profit for the year ending March 31 was £76.8 million, a 4 percent increase over last year. The Tesco supermarket chain, whose stores sell milk for about 50 ppl, grossed more than £1 billion over the year in 2002, a 14 percent jump in pre-tax profits.

Farmers’ Weekly editor Stephen Howe told the BBC, “Farmers are getting 16.5p to 17p per litre and they are selling milk to the supermarkets at that—which means a markup of 206 percent by the time it reaches the supermarket shelves.”

Meanwhile, more and more dairy farmers are being forced off their land. At 32,000, the total number in the United Kingdom is about 50 percent of what it was a decade ago. The number in England fell from 22,793 in 1990 to 14,342 at the end of last year. In Scotland total dairy farms have declined by 40 percent to 1,500 in the last five years, according to Alex Wilson, the FFA coordinator for Scotland.

Depression conditions in dairy farming are driving an increasing number to protest and to join Farmers for Action. “The FFA had a stand at the recent national dairy farmers show in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, and dozens signed up,” Bruce Horn said. Not all those who turned out for the Hanworth protest were dairy farmers, however. A few like Bruce Horn himself are beef and arable producers. Nikki Edwards is a game farmer. “I’m here because farmers have to stick together,” she said. “Today it’s the dairy farmers who are at the sharp end. Tomorrow it could be us.”

One farmer said, “We’re here to encourage Tesco to go to Dairy Crest. They’re saying [an increase of] 0.8 ppl but 2p is what we need to cover costs. The supermarkets blame the processors but Dairy Crest says it’s the supermarkets that are reneging on the 2p agreement. Twenty ppl is the minimum we need, 22 pence is what we deserve.”

“I milk 160 cows and produce 1.3 million liters of milk per annum,” said a farmer from Dumfriesshire. He and a wage worker labor “12 hours a day, 7 days a week,” he said. “I’m expecting we’ll get a 1 ppl increase, that is, £13,000. But I use 50 tons of fertilizer. Last year it cost £95 per ton, this year it costs £125—that’s a £1,500 increase. I use 300 tons of cow feed. With this summer’s drought in Europe, the price has gone up £25 per ton—that’s a £7,500 increase.”

Less than an hour into the blockade, Alex Wilson, the FFA representative for Scotland, reported that Tesco managers had agreed to talk to their counterparts at Dairy Crest.  
 
 
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