Buying milk from supermarkets…….

If I’m in the local paper/convenience shop I will by the local stuff. Think it’s Duffield dairy? It’s a good bit more expensive but as stupid as it sounds it does taste better.

Aldi do milk from Grahams dairy, which is not one of the mega producers

And they also get a huge amount from the ‘mega producers’

All the supermarkets mentioned here (and Asda) get their milk from the same supplier.

I worked for them for a few years, one of the experiences that convinced me milk shouldn’t be on my menu. I would have no trouble with the whole industry going out of business tomorrow.

Id be interested in the price of beer too.

A duty paid cask of ale is about £75 (70 pints), ok so pubs probably get a discount for bulk and contracts, and bottled beer lasts longer so is easier logistically. But that still the cost of the bottles + bottling plant, plus selling them all 1 at a time, for less than a keg which takes minutes to fill?

I’ve never met a poor farmer yet.

I have – loads. I grew up in a small rural town and went to a school where half the kids were farm kids, including my best mate. People weren’t rich. I’ve never met a rich farmer, in fact.

This article from 2013 says that the average farm income after costs is around £25k, but that doesn’t include re-investment. Tractors aren’t cheap.

And that’s the mean figure, including big businesses – a large number of small farmers are on less than minimum wage.

I’ve never met a rich farmer

Whereas I have (anecdotes eh!), I grew up in a small market town with a lot of farmers locally. Some of them were very well off, Ferraris, massive houses etc. some of them were obviously struggling. The biggest differentiating factor seemed to be size, the bigger farms had the clout to strangle the smaller ones out of the market and buy them out when they went bankrupt. So whilst I have some sympathy for the way that supermarket treat the farmers, they (some of them anyway) have done a very similar thing to their own peers.

According to this waitrose is 2nd only to M&S for its price to farmers. I like the non-homogenised stuff.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/buying-and-supplying/sourcing/waitrose-reveals-how-much-it-pays-dairy-farmers-for-milk/512595.article

I grew up in a small market town with a lot of farmers locally. Some of them were very well off, Ferraris, massive houses etc

Lol.. which area of the country was that? I saw my first Ferrari aged about 25.

I don’t really understand this squeezing of farmers on milk.

I would gladly pay 10-15p more per litre and wouldnt notice it in the slightest but. (tbh I would pay a lot more than that as I REALLY like milk and think it’s a bargain compared to beer which I like less).

But even a 1-2p per litre increase would make a massive difference to them and surely even a family on benefits wouldnt notice that? Lets say a typical family with kids buys 20 litre/week that’s 20-40p a week more.

I don’t really understand this squeezing of farmers on milk.

It’s because the most consumers are still obsessed with price and ‘good value’. Milk is one of the things people will compare prices on, because almost everyone buys it, and people will simply go for the cheapest without thinking of the consequences. They don’t seem to be able to add the two together.

It’s the same all over retail. People will moan about foreign countries taking our manufacturing jobs whilst at the same time buying the cheapest washing machine they can find.

which area of the country was that?

East Yorkshire, so not exactly an affluent area (and not dairy TBH). A lot of it was ‘old money’ from estate farms but even then it was only the farms that modernised and expanded that seemed to be successful.

It’s because the most consumers are still obsessed with price and ‘good value’.

My comment was rhetorical but yes. Madness isn’t it.

I do like a bottle of cravendale every now and then but not all the time as it is expensive (they do process it is a bit more) but mostly buy Waitrose or locally sourced Yeo Valley from the local shop. The Yeo valley is expensive at £2.34 a bottle compared the “super value” brand also there but having tried the “super value” there is no way I am buying it again. It went off quicker and it’s too cheap. I am assuming that Yeo valley pay the farmers a decent amount though…off to check…

East Yorkshire, so not exactly an affluent area (and not dairy TBH). A lot of it was ‘old money’ from estate farms but even then it was only the farms that modernised and expanded that seemed

So land owners who helped out Ted on the farm.

I think it was more sinister than that, it was more a case of landowners not renewing old Teds lease. But, yes the rich ones were farm owners.

Farmers in Ferraris is certainly not a widespread phenomenon then. And suggesting that it is could be pretty damaging to those who are struggling.

Quite, they seem to prefer range rovers round here.

Where’s that?

As pointed out earlier, its the same stuff in 90% of brands, they just pause the filling machines, swap the packaging from sainsbury to morrisons or nisa or waitrose or whatever and carry on and thats just at the processing plant stage which is a mixture of multiple suppliers milk seperated and reformulated then re pasturised again and again as required.

If you want anything substantially different your going to need to go down the diary and see mrs moo.

Suffolk

If you want anything substantially different your going to need to go down the diary and see mrs moo.

You have to make an appointment?

You have to make an appointment?

Yeah, she’ll need to check her dairy. 😀

IGMC

half a lol

Full lol from me.

I have to say the people that own the farms around here all live in very nice houses, have sold or have their family living in very nice houses on the farm, and drive big, new 4×4 cars. Colleague of mine’s father in law has a dairy farm, and they are very well off, but they have bought up smaller farms around the area who didn’t modernise.
The farm labourers however ride bikes, which would probably balance out the 25k wages.

Globalti, I know mr Chambers, the Flying Milky.

Aldi do milk from Grahams dairy, which is not one of the mega producers
And they also get a huge amount from the ‘mega producers’

I didn’t know that. Is their PR somewhat truth light then, they do pitch themselves as “not Muller”.

Farms round here are generally pretty prosperous. A lot can get set against tax and with subsidies, a reasonable living is available I’d say. That’s for the farm owners. It is hard work for long hours with a lot of admin though. And there are less and less farm hands. A lot more farm contractors who, again, do seem to do pretty well.

Globalti, I know mr Chambers, the Flying Milky.

He lives in Langho – is that where you are then?

Farmers are like civil servants – everyone envies their easy/well paid jobs, but no one actually wants to be one! 😉

Our milk is delivered. At 71pence per pint its not cheap. However I’m pleased the money goes to the dairy and farmer.

I think Booths use local dairy farmers.

no other business gets subsidised quite like farming.

The rail companies seem to be doing alright.

Dairy farming in in a bind, with the price of milk falling then there are two ways to go, either go low input low out put which is often called the New Zealand system or go huge and expand expand and expand a bit more. 1500+ units are not as rare as you think.

In West Wales the situation is even worse that just low prices. With the creamery in Whitland closing some of the remote farms have been told they can’t get their milk collected, or if the big tanker cant get to the farm it wont be collected.

Lots of wealthy farmers around and some dirt poor ones as well, I have visited a farm for work who went out of business. That was about 5 months ago. He wasn’t a very good farmer and the bank cut off his credit.

The rail companies seem to be doing alright.

Good point. Agree with the rest too. Didnt they do away with farming subsidies in NZ?
Problem is the big land owners get all the money and smaller farms get much less.

Didnt they do away with farming subsidies in NZ?

I wouldn’t base anything on the NZ dairy farming situation.

I don’t know what subsidies they get but importantly there is a monopoly milk buyer (Fonterra) who are forced to pay a fixed price to the farmers. Great! But now everyone wants a piece of the action.

Forests are being felled, high country areas suited for sheep farming are having cows put on them for the Dairy $$$ and all at a massive ecological cost.

They powder nearly all the milk and export it all. Milk in the supermarkets was quite expensive.

They found some nasty toxin in a batch of milk powder in China (a couple of years ago, and yes, they found the source) and for a while it looked like the whole milk powder exporting was about to suddenly collapse….

Right, the local shop sells Country Life Milk which is from Dairy Crest Ltd so am I a good or bad person to the farmer for buying that?

Maybe a overhaul of the subsidy sytem to make it inline with the beer duty system, whereby smaller producers get a bigger proportional subsidy to offset the fact that small producers are inherently less efficient but arguably better for the economy.

Dairy Crest, Haven’t Muller bought them too?

It’s because the most consumers are still obsessed with price and ‘good value’.

Its a bit simplistic to simply blame the consumer, the milk market is a bit more diverse than liquid milk sold through the supermarket, international prices and supply of all dairy produce has an effect.

Like the oil market, there is an oversupply, and that is due in part to international poltics.

If producers can’t make a profit in these circumstances then I think they need diversify or streamline their operations.

It seems they have yes, couldn’t find any info on pricing rates for farmers on either site.

If producers can’t make a profit in these circumstances then I think they need diversify or streamline their operations.

Food is a bit different from general manufactured goods though.