UK – First Milk, a farmer-owned milk business, has said record milk production in the UK this spring highlights the need to tackle problems caused by seasonal supply patterns.

It has launched a new pricing system, called dual pricing, which it hopes will provide an incentive for farmers to produce more milk when supplies are low.

Figures from the Rural Payments Agency state that milk production from April-June 2003 was 3903 million litres, 60 million litres more than the same period in 2002.

First Milk believes a high spring peak means a low trough in the second half of the year, leading to processors being starved of milk and closing factories, resulting in a lack of processing capacity the following spring.