North-east dairy farmers are on the verge of being forced out of business following the introduction of a transport levy to haul their milk down south for processing.
Inverurie farmer Roy Mitchell, who milks 320 Holstein Friesian cows at Drimmies Farm, is expecting to lose between £55,000 and £60,000 a year as a result of having to pay a transport fee of 1.75p for every litre of milk he produces.
He is now calling on people to support the Press and Journal’s Local Milk is Miles Better campaign by signing an online petition to buy local milk.
The Local Milk is Miles Better campaign, which was launched last month, sets out to drum up demand for local milk and help build the business case for a new milk processing factory to be built in the region.
At the moment all milk stocked in north-east supermarkets has travelled more than 100 miles before it reaches the shop shelves, and it is currently not possible to buy milk which has been produced, processed and bottled in the Grampian region.
Mr Mitchell, 44, said the new transport levy was an additional cost the north-east dairy sector could not afford to cover.
The transport levy has been introduced by dairy giant Muller, who last month closed the only milk processing factory in the region at Tullos in Aberdeen.
All the milk produced by the 43 farmers in the region is now carted to another factory in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, at a cost.
Twelve farmers in the group are on an aligned contract with Tesco, which pays a milk price based on a cost of production model, and the retailer has agreed to foot the bill. However the remaining 31 farmers are being forced to cover the transport levy themselves.
Mr Mitchell said: “I feel let down by Muller. There’s no other person to buy your milk in this area and Muller knows that.
“Muller has 2,000 dairy farmer suppliers in the UK. Why have they singled out the 43 in the north-east of Scotland to pay a haulage fee? You get the feeling that Muller doesn’t want us.”
He urged shoppers to sign the Local Milk is Miles Better campaign pledge.
The petition will be presented to farmers’ union NFU Scotland and north-east economic development agency ONE who are conducting a feasibility study into the possibility of building a new factory for the region.
“Hopefully something will come out of the feasibility study or the milk price will rise so we can continue dairying,” said Mr Mitchell.
A Muller spokesman last night defended the transport cost and said the company was offering a means by which all the milk in the region could be processed in an environment when supply of milk from farmers throughout the UK was in excess of demand.
He said: “We are not in a position to fund the cost of moving this milk from Aberdeen to Bellshill because as is widely known, industry wide margins in fresh milk processing are currently negative.
“In addition we are maintaining a substantial depot presence in Aberdeen and continuing to employ local people to distribute milk to our customers in the area.”
