NFU Scotland has called a meeting with Muller executives, after the Bavaria-based dairy processor announced plans to close down two of its plants in Scotland.

Muller plans to close down dairies in East Kilbride and Aberdeen, threatening 229 jobs. Upon making its plans public, Muller said all 43 farmers supplying the Aberdeen site would have to accept an extra transport charge of 1.75 pence per litre for moving milk to Muller’s Bellshill plant near Glasgow, under pain of losing their contracts, after a 12 month notice period.

Muller has launched a 45 day consultation on the closures and executives have said they will be keeping “an open mind” throughout the process. On Friday (1st April), Daniel Adams of trade union Usdaw which represents workers at the two plants said, “We will now enter into a full consultation process to interrogate the business case and do all we can to save jobs. We are providing our members with the support, advice and representation that they require at this very difficult and worrying time.”

On Wednesday, following meetings with farmers who stand to be affecte, NFU Scotland called on Muller to scrap its plans to apply extra haulage costs, and asked the processor to work with farmers. The union is trying to set up a meeting with Muller, but at the time of writing had received no response.

Milk Committee Chair, Graeme Kilpatrick, who spoke to affected producers on Monday in Aberdeenshire, commented, “The restructuring of the Muller operations in Aberdeenshire and the proposed haulage cost for moving milk to Bellshill is of great concern to dairy farmers which put further risk and volatility onto the farmer.

“Charging Aberdeenshire farmers for the cost of getting milk to Bellshill sets a worrying precedence and one that we do not agree with. For dairy farmers transport costs are usually absorbed into the farm-gate price and that is the way it should be. There is no guarantee that the farmers will be charged for taking the milk to the nearest processing plant, and that is a point we’ll be taking forward with Muller. To put this into context, these transport costs will be the equivalent of one milk cheque per year for these dairy farmers in the North East and we believe that Muller should pull their haulage costs plans.”

Of the sites affected, the East Kilbride plant used to be home to Robert Wiseman Dairies, which was taken over by Muller in 2012.

Graeme Kilpatrick said there is a need for accountability in the restructuring process, which makes sure farmers’ voices are heard. He said, “I will continue to work with Regional Chairman Roddy Catto to liaise with farmers, and make sure we get the best deal possible for them.”