Fair milk, milk fair
This week’s moves by Morrison’s and Arla in the UK to provide consumers with a way to buy milk at a fairer price is an incentive to be approved of, but I do wonder how well it will work, and for how long. It seems that most retailers have a very short memory span when it comes to pricing milk, and it’s only when the farmers are dumping milk into the streets and herding their livestock to block traffic, that something gets done at all. However, I don’t quite think that they should shoulder all the blame. The end of any pricing regime is always a time of turmoil, and the CAP reforms have proven no different. We are still in the early stages of this sea change in world dairy, and I suspect there will be more turbulence to come. Witness Fonterra’s trials in New Zealand, with the drop in its offerings for auction on the Global Dairy Trade platform.
Despite the liquid milk market woes, there are bright spots. Organic milk continues to do well, and A2 milk is expanding its point of difference to the US. In the future, it may still be dairy, but not as we’ve been used to it.
