Farmers Clear Supermarkets Of Milk In Protest Of Prices

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A group of British dairy farmers have milked Morrisons, Tesco, Asda and Lidl stores dry to protest against the prices the supermarket giants pay for milk.

The rural activists cleared the shelves today at Morrisons in Bideford, Devon, and Bude, Cornwall, then demonstrated outside with a cow.

The farmers say Morrisons pays as little as 74p for four pints, which they argue is far too low.

Today’s protest is one of many which have been staged across the UK in the past few days with the angry farmers removing all cartons of milk from the supermarkets’ shelves, shoving them into trolleys and then abandoning it all at the checkout.

Videos posted on Facebook show what happened in Northern Ireland on Friday when dozens of farmers protested against the low milk prices at an Asda store in Strabane, County Tyrone.

Up to 50 tractors blocked a lane into the car park as the farmers cleared the shelves of milk.

Earlier this week, Arla (the biggest milk co-operative in the UK) announced another cut in the amount it pays to its UK members. The firm is reducing the price by 0.8 pence per litre, which takes the litre rate down to just 23.01 pence.

The Strabane protesters told BBC Radio Foyle they had essentially been “working for nothing” over the last 12 months because of the dramatic price fall.

Michael Shadwick, who led the action in Bude, Cornwall today said store staff had been “overwhelmed” at what they did.

Speaking to the BBC, he said:

We cleared the lot and yeah they’re left with none now, so it’s mission accomplished for us. Hopefully, the message will get back to their buyers that, you know, they need to support us. There’s no reason why they should be using the money that should be going to pay our bills to prop up their loss leaders and get footfall.

Milk prices have been steadily falling in recent years as there is more supply than demand but these farmers aren’t standing for it anymore!

UNILAD