TWO days of debate by the States on the distribution of milk and dairy products has shown that members take seriously their role in ensuring fair play, especially when an underdog is involved. And while the number of milk retailers might be few, they certainly punch above their weight when it comes to lobbying.

Yet while everyone would have sympathy for a handful of hard-working, self-employed individuals about to be turned over by government and have their livelihood and investment damaged, the situation is nowhere near so clear-cut.

It is possible to argue that, 3am starts notwithstanding, milk roundsmen are actually pretty featherbedded and have been creaming it for years on the back of States-guaranteed monopoly rounds and a pricing policy that is against consumer interests simply to give the retailer a good living.

Whichever version you prefer, however, it pales into insignificance compared with the real issue: the future of farming in Guernsey. Put bluntly, delivery drivers are hardly a threatened species. Farmers are. If the custodians of Guernsey’s countryside were badgers or otters, they would be on a red list of critically endangered species and all sorts of agencies would be rallying to their aid.

But because the island’s dairy producers are neither particularly cuddly nor visible, the bleakness of their future is largely ignored.

From hundreds in the past, Guernsey has just a few farmers now and fewer still looking to enter the industry. But without them, a classic brand and the birthplace of a world-class iconic breed simply disappear.

Imported milk becomes the norm and – perhaps more obviously significant for islanders – vergees of land would suddenly have limited economic value other than for development. The implications of that are clear.

There is a limited amount of money in dairy farming yet what there is has been diluted to give about 30 roundsmen a living.

The Guernsey Farmers’ Association estimates that centralising shelf filling for milk would drop the price by 8-9p a litre, a substantial figure.

Head needs to rule heart if Guernsey wants to keep its cows.