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| UK 'may have to buy foreign milk' | UK 'may have to buy foreign milk' |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The UK may have to import milk from Europe within five years if more is not done to help dairy farmers, a leading retailer has warned. | The UK may have to import milk from Europe within five years if more is not done to help dairy farmers, a leading retailer has warned. |
| Sir Stuart Hampson, chairman of Waitrose owners the John Lewis Partnership, said the sector would become unviable if no action was taken. | Sir Stuart Hampson, chairman of Waitrose owners the John Lewis Partnership, said the sector would become unviable if no action was taken. |
| Government figures showed that England lost one dairy farm a day in 2005. | |
| Sir Stuart told that Daily Telegraph that it would be "scandalous" if the UK had to import milk. | |
| "There is a lot of scaremongering about tipping points, but we are reaching a point where unless action is taken we won't have a viable sector," said Sir Stuart, who is a former president of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. | |
| Significant | Significant |
| Earlier, Sir Stuart welcomed moves by Sainsbury's and Tesco to follow in the footsteps of Waitrose and set up dairy producer groups that invested in the farmers and offered them long-term contracts and financial support. | |
| The chief dairy adviser to the National Farmers Union, Tom Hind, told the BBC that it was significant that the warning had come from the chairman of a major retail chain | |
| "Although it will probably take a spectacular fall in milk production before we started to see large amounts of fresh liquid milk come into the country, I think it should be seen as a wake-up call for the rest of the entire dairy industry," he said. | "Although it will probably take a spectacular fall in milk production before we started to see large amounts of fresh liquid milk come into the country, I think it should be seen as a wake-up call for the rest of the entire dairy industry," he said. |
| The Milk Development Council (MDC) said that while it agreed dairy farmers were under extreme financial pressure, there were signs the industry was beginning to tackle the causes of low profitability on farms. | |
| The head of economics at the MDC, Ken Boyns, said that Sir Stuart's prediction was "extreme", saying that the UK would have to lose 50% of its current production in order to have to import milk. | |
| He added that the industry had to make sure milk was produced and processed efficiently, that it developed good relationships in the supply chain, and that it brought out new brands and products that would appeal to customers. | |
| "If the focus on these doesn't continue or we don't have commitment from all sides, then Sir Stuart could be right," Mr Boyns said. |