IAN POTTER ASSOCIATES
13th July 2012
Specialist Agricultural Quota & Entitlement Brokers
Telephone 01335 324594 Fax 01335 324584
Website www.ipaquotas.co.uk Email sales@ipaquotas.co.uk
Today
Clean
AMPE
MCVE
Producers in
E&W
£:$
£:€
Crude Oil
Wheat
Soya meal
0.15ppl
23.50ppl
30.44ppl
10,724
£1.55
£1.27
£102
£192
£407
Issue No. 681
Last Week
Change
4 Weeks Ago
0.15ppl
22.10ppl
30.48ppl
-
0.20ppl
22.10ppl
30.48ppl
10,724
0.35ppl
35.20ppl
33.16ppl
10,907
+£1
+£3
+£9
+£13
£1.55
£1.23
£97
£182
£359
£1.60
£1.12
£97
£164
£280
£1.55
£1.26
£99
£183
£394
1 Year ago
(Commodity and currency prices – source BOCM Pauls)
Milk Quota Available
Litres Available
Butterfat %
Price
1,037,132
3.817377
0.20ppl negotiable
489,619
3.99
0.15ppl negotiable
1,295,006
4.15
0.25ppl negotiable
Should you require any information or prices on available milk quota, please contact Jacquey@ipaquotas.co.uk
1.87ppl milk price drop to Meadow Foods farmers – from 1st August. Only 19 days notice given!
Lanchester Dairies - no price drop
Full marks to Lanchester Dairies who have stated that they understand that some of their farmers would consider leaving
the industry so they have confirmed there will be no movement from them.
4ppl milk price rise from Dairy Crest - from 29th July
Unfortunately this is not an ex-farm gate price increase but a commercial increase to some of Dairy Crest’s smaller retail
customers, corner shops etc. Thank you to one reader and shopkeeper who kindly sent copies of 7 letters from Colin
Cornall, Commercial Director at Dairy Crest, which span the past 17 months and confirm Dairy Crest have increased their
milk price by 15p litre. Where has it all gone?
Huge turnout for meetings across Britain
Solidarity, frustration and passion from dairy farmers, who are proud of what they do but furious at the lack of reward and
respect they receive, prompted huge turnouts at
- Lanark on Monday – around 400 farmers.
- Great Yorkshire Show, Tuesday – at least 250 farmers who visited the ASDA stand with Dairy Board Chairman Mansel
Raymond who then allowed them to disperse rather than go straight to the Morrisons stand where they were nervously
expecting a rough time. A missed opportunity.
- London, Wednesday – almost 3,000.
- Haydock Park, Wednesday – almost 800
- Stafford (the previous week) – 600.
The solidarity shown in London was unprecedented and a credit to all who took the time to attend.
The invitation was billed “to address the recent crippling milk price cuts and consider the action that is needed ……”.
There was criticism from some that the only action came from Handley who intends to lead the farmers with an organised
milk dump starting 1st August, unless the cuts are reversed. Handley asked Minister Jim Paice “How do you want to be
remembered as Minister of Agriculture, Mr Paice? As the doctor who put things right – or the undertaker?”
Jim Paice made a grave error when he suggested farmers could do more to cut their costs. He literally lit the blue touch
paper and the mood and temperature in the room instantly changed, and a number of dairy farmers were extremely close
to carting him off to The Tower of London. Lesson learnt, Jim. Wrong place to say that!
All views expressed in this bulletin are those of Ian Potter Associates and a shed load of dairy farmers. It is necessarily short and cannot deal with the various
issues that arise in any detail. As a result it must not be relied on as giving sufficient advice in any specific case. Every effort has been made to ensure the
accuracy of the content but neither Ian Potter Associates nor Ian Potter personally can accept liability for any errors or omissions. Professional advice must always
be taken before any decision is reached
We keep returning to the fact this market does not work and the only people who will change it are the dairy farmers. Yes
there is evidence that both large and small retailers are very, very nervous and that their previous aggressive attitude has
weakened this week. Some who had the nerve to hold their greedy selfish plate out for a share of the August price drops
have even wound back this request. You may get a short term fix from embarrassed retailers but the problem will return.
Yes the root problems are greedy, dispassionate, morally bankrupt retailers (both large and small) who want ever
cheaper milk so they can take an ever bigger their slice of the cake for themselves. And remember, the processors are
getting nothing from them either right now.
Fiddling and faffing around with the terms of the Voluntary Code of Practice is all well and good, but it’s only a small
change for the medium to long term. What’s needed is a wholesale change. Quickly. Step forward then, one idea gaining
ground:
If the retailers won’t pay for the milk the cows will
Of the many ideas suggested to get farmers out of this mess one particularly interesting and radical idea has caught Ian’s
eye. It doesn’t involve tipping milk away, and NO direct action by farmers is required at all. It is beautifully simple, and will
embarrass non-paying retailers like nothing else. Let’s, simply, kill the cows. Not all of them, obviously! But enough to
wake-up the retailers to make a difference. Let’s do it quickly. Now. After all the cows are more valuable as burgers than
for milk.
Back in January 2003 the USA started a programme called the CWT (Co-operatives Working Together) Herd Retirement
Programme. This took out hundreds of entire herds, which were slaughtered, compensated for and subject to conditions
attached to the holding’s non-milk production it cut. It achieved the maximum positive impact on all producers – a cut in
volume and an increase in milk price.
The key is for farmers to agree to cull some of their herd on 1st August. But to work we mustn’t suddenly back off when
retailers bow to pressure, if indeed they do.
There is a lot of detail to the US scheme, but why couldn’t a variation of the CWT programme, say a voluntary cull, work
here? The bottom line is the US scheme saw more than 500,000 cows slaughtered. It was described as a “booming
success” claiming it delivered a $11.7 billion industry profit.
By the way, if an average cow was to be completely processed into burgers we calculate that it would yield around 1850
burgers which, using the current ASDA Butchers Selection Quarter Pounder price, would mean that the cow has a burger
value of £1032. Having said that the reality is only around half of the animal would go into burgers with the rest going into
higher value products. What is its value for milk? Negative if you make a loss from it.
How could a cull scheme work in Britain?
The cows being culled would not be cull cows but young or older milking ones which, currently, would be worth more to
dairy farmers dead than alive. Yes it’s a waste of good cows, but you can’t afford to keep them right now!
The PR message would be horrifying for the non-paying retailers. “Retailer X pays a good price for milk so the cows can
live. Retailer Y pays a bad price and the cows have to die. Farmers can’t afford to keep them.” There can be no negative
PR implications for you farmers because you aren’t a charity and if you can’t afford to keep them you can’t keep them.
It has been suggested that the campaign be kick-started with a photo shoot of haltered cows (including one or two nice
pretty Jerseys) in front of every retailer’s HQ and key premises/ stores with a farmer holding a bolt gun, with milk on one
side of the cow and a pile of burgers on the other. Every major retailer, middle ground retailer, chain of coffee or corner
shops etc should be visited for this photo shoot before the cow goes to slaughter. That should give their PR departments
plenty to deal with.
In the first week the first targets would be ASDA/Walmart, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsburys (yes, those too), plus Lidl, Aldi,
Iceland, Costa and CostCo, as well as the Government and all of its departments whose milk procurement policy is right
in the thick of it. Oh, and if the OFT thinks about poking its nose over the parapet then we’ll add them to the list too.
The only exclusions for Ian would be M&S and Waitrose. The rest of the retailers are in, and yes I have included Tesco
and Sainsburys. Ian thinks the idea would have a huge impact and the first pictures will be taken at the start of the
Olympics and pictures would continue from then on. Think about the press coverage with countryside themes at the
opening of the Olympics, twinned with thousands of cows going to slaughter because greedy British retailers are screwing
farmers. This is genuinely a nightmare PR scenario for the retailers.
All views expressed in this bulletin are those of Ian Potter Associates and a shed load of dairy farmers. It is necessarily short and cannot deal with the various
issues that arise in any detail. As a result it must not be relied on as giving sufficient advice in any specific case. Every effort has been made to ensure the
accuracy of the content but neither Ian Potter Associates nor Ian Potter personally can accept liability for any errors or omissions. Professional advice must always
be taken before any decision is reached
This cull idea is all about crashing milk volumes and farmers taking charge.
More cows killed = Less Milk = More Money – Simple.
To work there has to be a nationwide effort and wholesale co-operation. So now the idea has been suggested it’s time for
FFA, DairyCo, NFU, NFUS, NFU Cymru, RABDF, TFA, DCD, Wiseman Milk Partnership, TSDG, AMFP and so on to
discuss. Is it a runner? If it is, who will step forward and make it work? Who is brave enough? Will farmers on Sainsburys
or Tesco contracts ignore it and buy cows? Will apathy reign?
With this cull there will be no need to wait for Jim Paice or Dairy UK to agree a voluntary code. Take charge of your own
destiny, now! The Olympics will soon be here.
Please email your representative body and the press with comments on the idea, and whether you agree or disagree,
whether you would be in or not. We think a lot of farmers will be up for this as we know you are desperate. Email us too
kath@ipaquotas.co.uk if you have comments for or against which would help bolster the idea, or if you have other better
ones to consider.
Dairy Farming E-Petition is the most irresponsible idea Ian has ever encountered
In just over 25 years of Ian’s involvement in the dairy industry he has never encountered anything as bad as the
irresponsible and incredibly stupidly worded e-petition on the Government’s e-petition website. It reads:
“Dairy farmers must be paid more for their milk. Responsible department: Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs.
The UK Government must do more to protect the interests of British dairy farmers.The low price of milk is forcing
extremely hard working farming families into poverty and increasing the dependence on antibiotics used with animals that
will have a devastating affect on the industry. If the price of milk is not increased soon then the UK will suffer a shortage
of supply and thus pay more in the long-term.”
The e-petition was started by someone called James Allen and Ian invites Mr Allen to contact him to discuss his choice of
words. As if that wasn’t enough several dairy supply companies and The Farmers Guardian promoted the e-petition
encouraging people to sign it in the hope of reaching 100,000 signatures. It’s outrageous; did no one at these companies
or the Guardian read the words? It has attracted almost 10,000 signatures and it would be good know how many dairy
farmers have signed it, having only read the headline?
You couldn’t make it up Part 1 - “Fantastic Job Vacancy”
Within hours of around 250 very angry farmers piling onto the ASDA stand at The Great Yorkshire Show, and growing
pressure being piled on the retailer came the news that there is “A key vacancy in the ASDA Press Office”. Fancy that!
You couldn’t make it up Part 2 – if advertising brains were dynamite
Full marks to the Farmers Weekly for great coverage of the price crisis. But also spotted on one of its “milk crisis” pages
was an advertisement for a car manufacturer. And which car marque might wish to advertise to really, really hard pressed
farmers at this desperate time, you might ask? Land Rover? Nope. Volvo? Nope too. It was … Bentley. Any takers?
Badger Trust lose their High Court battle
The Badger Trust have failed to over turn the decision for DEFRA to conduct a pilot badger cull.
Milk Price Watch
A report has come in of Iceland in Whitchurch reportedly selling 4 pints for 87p!
All views expressed in this bulletin are those of Ian Potter Associates and a shed load of dairy farmers. It is necessarily short and cannot deal with the various
issues that arise in any detail. As a result it must not be relied on as giving sufficient advice in any specific case. Every effort has been made to ensure the
accuracy of the content but neither Ian Potter Associates nor Ian Potter personally can accept liability for any errors or omissions. Professional advice must always
be taken before any decision is reached