Farron urges Tesco to give dairy farmers a fair price

10.54.54am GMT Thu 20th Mar 2008

Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron today wrote to Sir Terry Leahy, Chief Executive of Tesco PLC, asking him to follow the guidelines of Tesco's own consultants, Promar International, who informed them that farmers should be paid at least 30p/litre of milk, in order to meet rising costs and re-invest in their business.

Speaking afterwards, Tim Farron MP said:

"Dairy farming in this country is in a marginal position, and greatly needs the support of the major supermarkets in order to keep their head above water. Just last week a report by a consultancy firm, Kite Consulting, prompted fears that the industry could be one disaster away from collapse. This would have dire consequences for the food security of this country, and mean that we would have to import milk, increasing the number of miles our milk would travel - it would not be fresh, and the extra distance travelled would impact heavily on the environment."

"For this reason I implore Tesco to pay dairy farmers at least 30p per litre of milk. Tesco are on the verge of completing their 6-monthly price review, making now the perfect time to take stock of the quality and added value of British dairy farms by setting a fair price."