30 April 2007, 13:54 PM
  • Following the industry wide 1.7p per litre increase in the price of milk, Waitrose has announced it will pass on 100% of this rise to the farmers.

This announcement coincides with the Great Milk Debate, a campaign run by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) and the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), which aims at discussing the difficulties faced by dairy farmers and their role in rural communities.

Heather Jenkins, Waitrose head of dairy buying, says, “We have long standing relationships with our dairy farmers and have consistently paid a fair price for our exacting milk quality standards. In order to sustain these relationships, we are always looking for ways to pass on profits to farmers.”

Waitrose receives milk from its Select Farm dairy producer group, which gathers more than 65 farms, via milk processor, Dairy Crest. This three-way partnership meets on a regular basis to discuss issues at hand.

Brian Barnett, of Astrop Farm, Brize Norton, and chairman of the group of Select Farm producer representatives, adds, “Good communication is vital to the success of this scheme. It is a collaborative and exclusive concept that involves farmer representation in all decision-making.”