Dairy farmers receive a farm gate price today for their milk that is lower than it was ten years ago. Meanwhile the costs of energy, cattle feed, fuel have rocketed.

Prices have been forced down by the big supermarkets, often to lower than the cost of production. Three farmers a week are going out of business.

The southwest of England with its lush green pastures (although for how long with global warming is a moot point) is ideal for dairy industry, and yet we import milk.

Farmers are bonded slaves to the supermarkets. Whereas it is the supermarkets that reap the profit, it is the farmers that bear all the risks. They need to move away from industrial agriculture, global markets, go organic, supply local markets.

Farmers themselves need to be pro-active, to diversify and produce value added. To follow the example of two farms in the Lincolnshire Wolds that produce on the farm award winning cheeses, Cote Hill Farm that produces Cote Hill Blue Cheese and Ulceby Grange Farm that produces Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese.

Quality cheeses can be found on local farmers markets. Cote Hill Blue and Lincolnshire Poacher, can be found on farmers markets in Lincolnshire, also at the Cheese Society in Lincoln and Neals Yard Dairy in Covent Garden in London. The Cheese Society and Neals Yard Dairy, both have a wide range of real cheeses, cheeses that come from a farm not a factory.

Cheese and milk are to be banned from being advertised on children's programmes as they are classed as 'junk food'. On the other hand, coke, chicken nuggets, even oven chips and ready meals, are ok!

Websites

 http://www.nfuonline.com/
 http://www.tescopoly.org/
 http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/
 http://www.farmersmarkets.net/
 http://www.theecologist.org/boxscheme
 http://www.farm.org.uk/
 http://lincolnshirepoachercheese.com/
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/lincolnshire/
 http://www.thecheesesociety.co.uk/
 http://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/

References

Joanna Blythman, Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets, Fourth Estate, 2004

Jose Bove and Francois Dufour, The World is Not for Sale: Farmers Against Junk Food, Verso, 2001

Sherrod Brown, Myths of Free Trade, The New Press, 2006

Charles Clover, Dairy farmers warn of industry 'meltdown', Daily Telegraph, 27 February 2007
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/27/nmilk27.xml

Caroline Cranbrook, The Real Choice: How Local Foods can Survive the Supermarket Onslaught, CPRE, June 2006

Barry Darra, We're cheesed off with junk claims, Lincolnshire Echo, 2 January 2007

Isabel Davies, Cheese adverts to be restricted as tests brand product as junk food, Farmers Weekly, 3 January 2007
 http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2007/01/03/100473/cheese-adverts-to-be-restricted-as-tests-brand-product-as-junk.html

Martin Delgado, Junk food advertising ban outlaws cheese and marmite, Daily Mail, 12 February 2007

Valerie Elliot, TV's new junk food allows chips with everything, The Times, 23 February 2007

The Ecologist, September 2004 {special edition on damaging impact of supermarkets}

Kate Evans, Funny Weather, Myriad Editions, 2006
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/funny-weather.htm

Andrew Kimbrell (ed), Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture, Island Press, 2002

Felicity Lawrence, Not on the Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on Your Plate, Penguin, 2004
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/notonthelabel.htm

Caroline Lucas, Stopping the great food swap: Relocalising Europe's food supply, The Greens/European Free Alliance, European Parliament, March 2001

Milk farmers protest over prices, BBC News on-line, 6 February 2007
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6332499.stm

Keith Parkins, Localisation: A Move Away From Globalisation, www.heureka.clara.net, November 2000
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/local.htm

Keith Parkins, Sowing Seeds of Dissent, Indymedia UK, 6 September 2004
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/09/297391.html

Keith Parkins, Seeds of Dissent, September 2004
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/seeds.htm

Keith Parkins, Do we need industrial agriculture?, Indymedia UK, 19 February 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/362714.html

Keith Parkins, Celtic invites its young supporters to experience fine dining, Indymedia Scotland, 26 February 2007
 http://scotland.indymedia.org/newswire/index.php

Keith Parkins, Tesco – every little hurts Indymedia UK, 26 February 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/363555.html

Keith Parkins, Bad Food Britain, to be published
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/

Price squeeze 'hitting farmers', BBC News on-line, 26 February 2007
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6396199.stm