A Sussex MP is backing farmers in their fight for higher milk prices.

Norman Baker, MP for Lewes, will join a protest outside a milk processing plant to support dairy farmers who say they are being driven out of the industry.

Mr Baker has collected figures showing a drastic drop in the amount farmers are paid for their milk despite almost static checkout prices.

In 1995 they received an average of 25p per litre for milk, which sold in supermarkets for 63p. In 2004 that had dropped to 18p for a litre that retails at 62p, according to figures from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Farmers say it costs between 17p and 23p just to produce a litre, leaving them no room for profit.

They sell their milk to the big dairy processors, either direct or through a farmers cooperative, who then sell it on to the retailers.

The number of Sussex farmers producing milk has almost halved in the past decade and a recent report for Defra warned Britain was likely to fall short of its national milk quota by one billion litres in 2007/ 08.

Mr Baker said: "Many dairy farmers are hanging on by their fingertips.

"Even though Britain has some of the best conditions in Europe for milk production, we could now face the prospect within years of becoming dependent on milk imports to meet domestic demand."

Mr Baker will join Farmers For Action (FFA) outside Arla Foods in Sheffield Park, near Uckfield, tomorrow. Arla is the largest dairy company in the UK and supplies both Asda and Tesco supermarkets.

A spokeswoman for Arla said: "It is regrettable Mr Baker has not made contact with us or the industry's trade association.

"The single biggest factor affecting milk price over the past ten years is the strength of the pound versus the ecu/euro, which has resulted in the fall of the milk price."

Wednesday, August 31, 2005