He said: "We welcome the news of the dairy response funds in England and Wales. However, the concerns that we have raised before remain that for those farmers who had to dump milk still don't appear to be covered by the funds, neither do farmers who process their own milk or those in the non-bovine sector.  

 “We do not understand how farmers will demonstrate milk volumes dumped as this will not appear on milk statements and therefore, the volume loss can’t be evidenced in this way.”

He added: “It is disappointing the non-bovine sector has been excluded despite both Governments being made aware of the fragility of the sector. Due to the small size of the sector we hope the government can find a small sum of money to support them as without it, these farms will struggle to survive.”

The deadline for applications will be 14 August. Farmers will be able to apply for a single payment from the fund, which will be paid out from 6 July. Applications can be submitted directly to the Rural Payments Agency (RPA