Dairy industry riddled with problems

UK – A damning report from the UK’s Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) found that the country’s dairy industry is afflicted by “suspicion and mistrust, preoccupied self-interest and a lack of constructive dialogue”.

The government body described its exasperation in compiling the report when it concluded that, when gathering information, it found: “Some of the answers we received to our questions were at best opaque, if not disingenuous, making this a difficult enquiry to undertake and conclude.

“We can only agree with Dairy Crest’s description of the dairy sector as characterised by an ‘engrained adversarialism and blame culture’.” The report, ‘Milk Pricing in the United Kingdom’, highlighted a number of shortcomings, including the Supermarket Code of Practice, which was described as “ineffective” as a tool to give producers more parity of power with the retailers.