British farmer discusses loss of milk profits in industry

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Michael Howie, the owner of Morwick Farm in Northumberland, said his farm needs supermarkets to invest in the cost of milk per litre in order to continue production. An agricultural expert noted that farmers need to be paid more. Morrisons has introduced a “sniff test” to make their milk products go further to prevent waste.

Speaking to GB News, Mr Howie said: “If you go back to 2003 when we opened the ice cream parlour, we felt we needed to go something different because there wasn’t much profit margin at the end of the day.

“We produced the ice cream as another avenue of income and it has worked really well.

“We need to be over 40p a litre to make a profit so we have a little bit left for reinvestment.”

Agricultural journalist Bruce Jobson added: “One of the supermarkets has come out with this sniff the bottle test to sniff the produce.

“This has never happened before and this supermarket, Morrisons, has been a fantastic supporter of British farming, British agriculture but I think their suppliers are decreasing their milk.

“I think they’re trying to stretch their measures out over a longer period of time.

“We are now feeling these supermarkets are feeling the pinch that their own suppliers on the production.

“This is the reason why supermarkets are going to have to look at continuing supply and hopefully pay farmers more money to cover the costs.”

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Morrisons have said in a statement: “There are no shortages of fresh milk on our farms.

“Milk is the third most wasted product in the UK and removing use-by dates and replacing them with best before dates aim to help reduce the amount going to waste in homes.”

From January 31, Morrisons are set to scrap 90 percent of the use by dates on their own-brand milk.

The supermarket is encouraging customers to sniff their milk to check if it’s still good as drinking milk after the “best before” date is not a food safety issue.

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Charity WRAP, Waste & Resources Action Programme, has supported the move by Morrisons.

CEO Marcus Gover told the Dairy Reporter: “I am delighted that Morrisons is the first UK supermarket to take this important step to help reduce household food waste.

“It shows really leadership and we look forward to more retailers reviewing date labels on their products and taking action.

“WRAPS’s joint Best Practice with FSA and Defra is to only apply a use-by date when required for food safety reasons.”

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