Farmers’ Union of Wales members have given their overwhelming support for an EU dairy fund distribution that favours smaller dairy producers.
The EU agreed in December 2009 to allocate €300m to help the European dairy sector which has been severely affected by low milk prices. Wales’s share is believed to be around £3m.
Following a meeting of the FUW’s milk and dairy produce committee in Aberystwyth, chairman Eifion Huws said: “The consultation was considered by the FUW’s 12 county branches and by the union’s milk and dairy produce committee.
“The overwhelming majority of members agreed that Wales should opt for a payment of 0.5 pence per litre (ppl) on the first 100,000 litres of production plus an estimated payment of 0.15ppl on production over 100,000 litres. This would target smaller businesses which, on average, have a lower profitability per litre.
“Members acknowledged the fact that all dairy producers had suffered as a result of low farmgate prices and high production costs, and that the profitability per litre was highly variable between farms.
“However, it was agreed that, on average, smaller producers had higher production costs and were, by definition, unable to benefit from production bonuses and other production related advantages.
“We are hardly talking about large sums of money here but the fund will, nevertheless, provide some relief for struggling dairy producers, and the union is firmly in favour of directing support where it is most needed.”
