The industry-wide meeting held in London today, and chaired by Defra Secretary of State Elizabeth Truss, has been hailed as a success by the NFU.

Union President Meurig Raymond, who said the NFU had been calling for such a meeting ahead of Wednesday’s roundtable discussion, said, “The Secretary of State made clear that she will take forward many of our demands for immediate help.”

The Defra secretary agreed to look at any overdue SPS payments, staggering tax payments and seeking support from banks, to help the hardest pressed dairy farmers remain afloat.



In the short term, a working group will be convened to look at all aspects of milk contracts, including implementing the recommendations of the Voluntary Code review and ways of securing more trust and transparency in contracts between farmers and milk buyers. Ahead of the meeting, the NFU said more must be done to ensure farmers are in a better bargaining position and that market situations are not used to take advantagee of producers in the future.

The new working group will also further explore the role of futures in the dairy sector.

Mr Raymond added, “Longer term, Government will support the UK dairy industry in its ambition to reduce the trade deficit on dairy through encouraging and developing new markets for export.

“It was reassuring that everyone around the table today – Government, retailers, processors and banks - showed commitment and a desire to back British dairy farmers. What we need to see now is action to help those farmers through this difficult period.”