FARMERS are urging States members to back Commerce and Employment’s proposals on milkmen’s exclusivity rights.
The States will debate the issue next week and the Guernsey Farmers’ Association said the department’s plans would be the best way of strengthening the dairy industry.
‘The proposals need to be seen in the context of the wider industry and the department needs to be given backing to drive the industry forward,’ said GFA spokesman James Watts.
‘This would enable farmers to face the future with confidence and with pride in our product and not have to live in constant fear of the threat from imports.’
The GFA has made its view known in a letter to all States members. It believes that giving greater protection on exclusivity rights to the milkmen’s already-strong position would lead to a return to poor sales of by-products such as cheese and cream. That would weaken the Dairy’s position and consequently the sustainability of the whole industry.
The GFA has argued that removing exclusive rights to milkmen would strengthen the industry, not weaken it.
That was because doorstep sales were declining and filling shop shelves with milk was not an activity that needed to support some 30 incomes.
Efficiency gains of up to 8p or 9p per litre were possible, but that was not the matter currently in question.
The intentions of the department’s 2005 proposals for future efficiency were sound but had been handled in the wrong way and had not been well received.
High-value products needed to be produced for premium markets so returns could be maximised and States support minimised, the GFA said.
That required marketing drive, something milkmen had not shown prior to the trade counter being established, and they showed a lack of enthusiasm for the local product.
The dairy industry had often been analogised as a three-legged stool involving the Dairy, farmers and the milkmen.
‘Farmers are in fact the oak tree protecting the land and breed,’ said Mr Watts.
‘If we’re not careful, milkmen will become the ivy that could pull the tree down in the next gale.’
The reason the States involved itself with the Guernsey dairy industry was to preserve and develop the iconic breed with which the island was associated and to preserve the landscape with its patchwork of small fields.
Mr Watts believed farming in Guernsey had become more worthwhile during the last 10 years because of the States’ involvement, but said comparisons with the UK should not be ignored and milk imports were the biggest threat to Guernsey.
‘Over the past 10 years, supermarket pressure has meant that UK farm-gate milk prices have been kept at an unsustainably lower level,’ said the letter.
The UK was now reaping the rewards of this failing marketplace, with many farmers leaving the industry. Three herds were being sold daily and there was a shortage of supply. Supermarkets were still having price wars and inevitably producers were taking the brunt of the lower prices.
Article posted on 25th October, 2008 - 9.29am
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