Farmers who yesterday blockaded five dairy processors at sites across the UK have said their action yesterday was “the first of many.” Following cumulative cuts to farm-gate milk prices, amounting to 4 pence per litre in some cases, and delivered by major processors in less than a quarter, farmers have pledged to disrupt milk supplies unless their pay is reinstated.

At actions across the UK, hundreds of farmers blockaded five milk plants operated by processors including Arla and Muller-owned Robert Wiseman Dairies. Protests went on into the night yesterday, and in some cases further actions have been promised for tonight.

Speaking to ITV at a blockade of the Robert Wiseman Dairy at Bridgwater, Somerset by around 400 angry farmers, Farmers for Action spokesperson David Handley said, “This [demonstration] is the first of many and the ultimate sacrifice will come after 1st August; there will be no milk moving in the UK unless these people realise what they have done.”

He continued, “Over the last week to ten days there has been a lot of negotiation with the processors behind this, including Wiseman, to try and get the money taken from dairy producers reinstated. At the moment we’re not getting the right sort of answers coming back from them so there has been a show of strength at five different sites across the country.”

Farmers have said the cuts being made by processors, the latest round of which are due to come into force on 1st August, are unjustified and pointed out that they have yet to benefit from a recent period of increased profitability for milk, though processers claim they have done eveything possible to keep cutting to a minimum. Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have this week pledged their support for the protesting farmers.

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