What about a Fair Trade deal for our dairy farmers?

I came across a really sad news story about a local dairy farmer who had been forced to sell his 85 short horn dairy cows after more than 30 years in the business due to falling milk prices.

Are consumers to blame for driving down prices or is it the fault of big supermarkets squeezing every last drop of profit at the expense of those who supply them?

Personally, I suspect it’s the latter and it’s shameful what this is doing to a once-thriving industry, especially here in Shropshire. There is a farmer from Newport who has also recently gone out of business after 32 years. And now the Madeley’s from Bridgenorth are selling up after a family connection to dairy farming going back more than 100 years.

Would consumers really be all that bothered if the price of milk went up by 10p? I’ll be honest, I don’t even notice how much my milk is – it’s an essential item so I just pick it up and put it in my trolley. Would it make a massive difference to consumers? Would they leave the supermarket and protest in their droves? I doubt it. But it would make a massive difference to farmers, saving an industry and the livelihoods of many a decent, hard-working family.

The supermarkets regularly boast about their ‘Fair Trade’ credentials, offering good deals to farmers and suppliers in poor countries and consumers happily pay extra for this. So how about offering Fair Trade a bit closer to home? I’m confident consumers would support that too. It just needs a supermarket to be brave enough to lead the way. And where one goes, the others would surely follow.