Dairy farmers nationwide have been protesting over the price they are paid for milk. Last month, thousands of litres of raw milk were sprayed across fields in an effort to demonstrate against the increasing difference in the price farmers are paid for milk and the price it sells for in the shops.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) galvanised its members into action with its Fair Share of the Bottle campaign in which a customised float featuring a giant milk bottle and cow toured the country. Producers poured milk away and picketed processing plants and supermarket depots to prevent supplies reaching the shelves. The protest culminated with a lobby on parliament on 15 March.
The march on London coincided with the issue of an NFU report entitled Crisis in dairy farming, which claims dairy farmers are currently abandoning the industry at such a rate that Britain may soon be unable to meet its 13 billion litres a year requirement for milk. In the last four years 4,200 dairy farms went out of production