Farming unions to push UK government for competition reform

UK – The UK’s farming unions have agreed work together to secure reforms allowing farmers to build larger co-operatives in the dairy industry.

At a meeting last week, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and its counterparts from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland agreed to push the government to reform competition laws.

NFU dairy advisor Phil Hudson told ConnectingDairy News that the unions will use recommendations made by the Policy Commission report to push the Office of Fair Trading and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to change competition rules.

The report, published in January, said: “The attitude of the competition authorities has been an obstacle to farmers trying to collaborate.” It noted that this was a particular problem in the dairy industry.

Also at the meeting, the unions agreed that further rationalisation of the UK processing and co-operative sectors was needed to achieve a sustainable balance of power in the food chain.

The unions claimed that farmer investment in the right processing opportunities was desirable. They said development of United Milk’s processing plant in Westbury, due to open in May, was highly relevant to the future of the UK dairy industry.