Morrisons boosts dairy farmers’ income with new milk

The move comes after crisis talks between the company’s executives and representatives of the UK’s four main farming unions – the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), NFU Cymru, NFU Scotland and the Ulster Farmers Union – along with lobby group Farmers for Action.

The new brand, Morrisons Milk for Farmers, will go into all stores in the autumn. It will sit alongside Morrisons’ standard-priced own brand milk in the dairy aisle.

Morrisons’ corporate services director Martyn Jones said: “We recognise that the current market for liquid milk is impacting on hard-working dairy farmers and their families. We want to reassure the industry that the retail price we charge for Morrisons’ milk reflects the highly competitive retail market. It is not linked to the price we pay our milk suppliers.​ 

Practical help​

“We want to offer practical help by launching a range of four-pint milk at a retail premium of 10p per litre, all of which will be passed back directly to dairy farmers. We will stock this product in all our stores, offering our customers the choice to support dairy farmers directly.”​ 

Morrisons also gave more details of how it pays for milk from its majority supplier Arla, which buys milk from farmers. 

Jones said: “We want to clarify that our current three-year contract with Arla, which supplies the majority of our milk, uses a cost model that automatically adjusts the price that we pay for milk, based on a combination of the independently set farmgate price and other commodities such as diesel and plastics that influence the cost of milk. ​

“We can confirm that we have asked our milk suppliers not to pass on further decreases in the current farmgate price to us, but to share any benefit with the dairy farmer instead.”​

First Step​

Welcoming the announcement of the new milk brand NFU president Meurig Raymond said: “This is a welcome first step. We need Morrisons to make sure there is plenty of resource available to promote this product. It must also be displayed prominently in-store.”​

Raymond said that the NFU had also had discussions with Morrisons about how it could introduce further initiatives to support dairy, including cheese, butter and yogurt.

He added: “We will continue to urge Morrisons and all retailers to ensure that farmers from all sectors who supply their food get a fair price.”​

The move comes after protests from farmers, who claim they are being paid less than the cost of production. Asda and Morrisons distribution centres have been blockaded, farmers have removed milk from supermarket shelves​ and cows were led into an Asda store in Stafford.