UK supermarket chain Morrisons is to launch a new milk brand where ten pence (€0.14)-per-litre of the retail price will go directly to dairy farmers.
There have been nationwide protests in the UK in recent weeks by farmers who are struggling to survive financially on the price that they are being paid for their milk. In some cases, they are being paid 25% less per litre of milk than they were in 2014 and many are being paid much less than it costs to produce the milk.
Last week saw farmers taking milk from supermarket shelves in the UK and giving it away to customers in protest of the prices, while on Sunday, protesting farmers walked two cows into an Asda supermarket in an effort to raise awareness of the problem.
The new brand “Morrisons Milk for Farmers” will go into all stores in the autumn and is aimed at shoppers who want to directly support dairy farmers. It will sit alongside Morrisons standard-priced own brand milk in the dairy aisle.
Morrisons’ Corporate Services Director Martyn Jones said: “We recognise that the current market for liquid milk is impacting on hardworking dairy farmers and their families. We want to reassure the industry that the retail price we charge for Morrisons milk reflects the highly competitive retail market. It is not linked to the price we pay our milk suppliers.
“We want to offer practical help by launching a range of 4-pint milk at a retail premium of 10p per litre, all of which will be passed back directly to dairy farmers. We will stock this product in all our stores, offering our customers the choice to support dairy farmers directly.”
Morrisons is also today giving more details of how it pays for milk from its majority supplier Arla, which buys milk from farmers.
Martyn Jones said: “We also want to clarify that our current three year contract with Arla, who supply the majority of our milk, uses a cost model that automatically adjusts the price that we pay for milk, based on a combination of the independently set farmgate price and other commodities such as diesel and plastics that influence the cost of milk.
“We can confirm that we have asked our milk suppliers not to pass on further decreases in the current farmgate price to us, but to share any benefit with the dairy farmer instead.”
The National Farmers Union welcomed the move. In a statement, president Meurig Raymond said: “This is a welcome first step. We need Morrisons to make sure there is plenty of resource available to promote this product. It must also be displayed prominently in-store.”
"We have also had discussions with Morrisons about how it can introduce further initiatives to support dairy, including cheese, butter and yoghurt. We will continue to urge Morrisons and all retailers to ensure that farmers from all sectors who supply their food get a fair price.”
