Over the last few weeks, Dairy farmers have been taking the milk price cuts to the front lines. Although their persistence has been paying off with the price cuts being withdrawn, I can’t help but feel nervous about what the future holds. “Price drop reversals just feel like chicken feed”.
Cereal yields in the UK are currently firmly under the microscope at the moment. But we must not loose focus on yields in America, Argentina and more importantly Russia. They are all low, in some cases disastrously low… Consequently cereal prices are certain to increase. So, surely the production price of milk is only going to up… Our Dairy farmers just cannot afford to wait around for the price war to drag on. The small guys will crumble, only leaving the largest producers standing. “Maybe that’s the hidden agenda”
“If it is, it’s a dirty one…”
Unfortunately, the momentum gained during the protests, it seems, is slowly grinding to a halt, under the shadow of all the harvest hype… But thankfully the NFU’s efforts will rumble on like a dog with a bone!
Having said all that, adding value to milk is decent route to removing your enterprise away from the market dictation. I attended the Dairy summit in London and had a chat with a few attendees. It smacked me in the face that their version of marketing, was having a chat with the tanker driver in the morning! I dared to mention, the possibility of them taking the initiative to develop products and brands. “Lets say it didn’t go down to well with the old guard…”