Dairy farms in closure crisis

Some 129 dairy farms have closed in Staffordshire during the last four years, new figures reveal today.

They show the number of holdings in the county council region have fallen from 998 in 2002 to 869 in 2006.

And across Worcestershire, some 44 have closed leaving 177 still operating.

Data obtained by shadow agriculture minister Jim Paice shows that 2,125 dairy farms have closed in England and Wales in the last four years – more than one a day.

The Tories claim farmers are being driven out of business unable to compete with supermarket milk prices.

Mr Paice said: "These figures provide further evidence of the dire state of the British dairy industry.

"The Government's failure to toughen up the Supermarket Code of Practice with its over-complicated regulations, and inaction on Bovine TB, have all put unnecessary pressure on the dairy industry."

"Whilst recent decisions by supermarkets are welcome, much more needs to be done to capture a larger share of the market for high value dairy products if we are going to really achieve a sustainable rise in the price of milk for all products," Mr Paice added.

Shropshire Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski, has been campaigning for a better deal for milk producers. He revealed that some progress had been made with supermarket giant Tesco, which yesterday announced it was willing to pay more to top quality producers in a drive to stock its shelves with locally branded milk.