Plaid Calls for Independent Milk and Supermarket Ombudsman

While one mainstay of Montgomeryshire farming, rearing livestock, has seen its market pick up in recent years the same cannot be said of that other mainstay, dairy farming.

Since the abolition of the Milk Marketing Board the price paid to farmers for their milk has fallen by 26% while its price in the shops has continued to rise. Of the 55p per litre paid in the shops only 16p goes to the farmer who produced it. In the past year alone 1,000 dairy farms have finished production in Wales and England and the situation can only get worse if the profit margin is squeezed even further.

Plaid Cymru has recognised the seriousness of the situation in Montgomeryshire and is backing the current campaign "Low milk prices have a high cost". It is also calling for the establishment of an Independent Milk and Supermarket Ombudsman who will be responsible for pricing and other aspects of the industry and would also make sure that the current voluntary supermarket code of conduct was made legally binding.