A local AM has raised the plight of Montgomeryshire dairy farmers with the Deputy Minister for Farming & Food, Rebecca Evans.
On a visit to Meifod, Russell George, Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire, hosted the Deputy Minister to listen first hand to dairy farmers and the concerns which they have about the current state and future development of the dairy industry in Mid Wales.
Mr George also raised the issue this week in the National Assembly for Wales with both the First Minister and the Deputy Minister for Farming and Food.
Mr George said:
“I was pleased to welcome the Deputy Minister to Montgomeryshire so that she could see just how precarious the current situation is for dairy farmers in Mid Wales.
“The dairy sector is going through a particularly difficult time and it is of significant concern that the farm-gate price of milk has fallen from 34 pence per litre to just over 20 pence per litre in the space of a year.
“There is no wonder that farmers in Montgomeryshire and across Wales are struggling to keep their heads above water when retailers slash the retail price of milk to an unsustainable level with some retailers selling 4 pints of milk for just 89p!
“In my view, the Welsh Government has a key role to play in using the levers at its disposal to restore fairness to dairy product pricing.
“I urge the Welsh Government to work closely with unions, farmers, the UK Government and EU partners, to make it easier for Welsh dairy farmers to access funding opportunities and to support an enhanced role for the Groceries Code Adjudicator to deliver a sustainable milk price which will protect the interests of our farmers.
“I will continue to campaign for the support which our hard-pressed farmers desperately deserve to be able to sustain and grow their businesses.”