http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30200732

Yeah, that's just pure gangsterism.

Here in Germany, because if the glut of milk, caused by the import ban in Russia means the prices have sunken dramatically, let by Aldi cutting over 10% off the price of dairy products. They are now following suit with meat and some vegetables as well. The problem is they have so much buying power, that they dictate the price they pay, so the farmers and wholesalers have to decide, do they let the stuff rot on their farm or do they sell it at a loss to the large chains?

when all dairies are shut and we are at the mercy of foreign countries for basic foodstuff we'll see if the prices stay this low.

I recommend this book: Jay Rayner- Greedy man in a hungry world

British supermarkets need to be careful because emerging countries are ready to buy foodstuff at much higher prices than they are and we could soon end up with shelves without basic fruit and veg.

As my mother tends to say - “we don’t know the true value of food”, meaning both the value in monetary terms, and the value of it to society.



Can we ship milk to developing countries fast enough before it goes off? I think that’s one of those products that doesn’t travel too well - this is why dairy farmers are over the proverbial barrel in this case. I expect that if they could ship abroad and get a fairer price, they would.

As fresh milk? I'd be very surprised if it could be done in an economically viable way. You'd need refridgerated transport from end to end.
It could be shipped in varrious processed forms - UHT, Evapourated/Condensed or powdered but all of those methods require some hefty processing which it's unlikely dairy farmers could do themselves at reasonable cost and if they can't do it themselves they're effectively back in the possition they're already in - at the mercy of the big buyers and processing companies.
There would have to be a reduction in the size of the dairy herd to produce a sustainable reduction in availability to drive up prices which seems to be what's happening by farmers going bust.
I guess a secondary question is could supply be met from abroad from nearby EU countries.

Some of us do. Which I why I hardly ever buy any of mine in supermarkets any more.


Can we ship milk to developing countries fast enough before it goes off? I think that’s one of those products that doesn’t travel too well - this is why dairy farmers are over the proverbial barrel in this case. I expect that if they could ship abroad and get a fairer price, they would.[/quote]
I think she might be referring to the fact that as the places that are producing some of our food stuffs get more prosperous, prices locally will tend to rise so there will simply be less reason to sell as export to us in the first place even before transportation is considered.

Remember also milk can be dehydrated and most things that use milk as an ingredient will happily work just as well with reconstituted milk powder as fresh milk. And milk powder is pretty simple to ship. Not all the milk produced ends up in cartons on the shelf.