Dairy farmers wishing to air their grievances over price freezes at a time of high profitability for dairy products have resumed blockades of processing plants across England.

Protestors led by Farmers for Action have staged a number of blockades after farmers were told they would not be receiving price rises in September or, possibly, in October. The group has demanded the government look into the situation; they claim that, although average milk prices are around 31 pence per litre, this is 2-4 pence below the actual price of production and that milk buyers' treatment of their suppliers violates the terms of the code of practice forged last year.

On Monday, Farmers for Action threatened to resume protests over the price of milk, arguing that retailers and processors have been deceiving their suppliers, passing the blame for stagnant returns on milk in circuitous negotiations and failing to support calls for price rises that reflect the profitability of dairy goods.  

FFA members said they would contact Agriculture Minister David Heath with their concerns. The protest group said it would present a petition to Mr Heath at the South West Dairy Event on 2nd October. 

On Thursday night, between 70 and 100 farmers demonstrated outside Morrisons supermarket's distribution hub at Bridgwater, Somerset. Farmers demonstrating at Bridgwater blocked access to the plant with tractors in protest over low supermarket milk prices, one of the factors they blame for the downward pressure on farm-gate milk prices.  

In response to the blockade, Morrisons said it has overseen a 4ppl increase in farm-gate prices through its processor in the past 12 months, and said farmers' returns are set by the processor (First Milk). At the demonstration in Bridgwater, FFA promised further actions unless milk buyers respond to their concerns.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's Food Price Index, published on Thursday, showed that dairy prices to consumers had risen once more last month, when they stood 37 percent higher than their August 2012 levels.  Speaking from the scene of Thursday night's protest, FFA spokesperson David Handley said, "With the market at an all-time high, both domestically and globally, we have not seen a penny of the money that is coming back in."