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[quote] Robert Macintyre, wrote; I cannot fathom how Willie Lamont, NFU milk committee chairman, is concerned that there is a danger supply won't meet demand. The sooner this happens, we might gain a meaningful reward. [/quote] I wonder which is the best situation Robert, a huge demand which suppliers struggle to meet, or, a huge supply which consumers shun because of the high price? It may never happen as fuel sales have shown that regardless of the price hikes, consumers continue to buy. Although I doubt that milk sales would remain so resilient whilst prices increased.

If dairy farmers are allowed to go out of business, decades of breeding of the cows is lost, the land will be sold for housing and we will have to purchase milk from abroad. We will not know what the cows have been fed or condition they are in when we purchase milk in the future. Why can't our Dairy Farmers, and our Fishermen, be given a better deal?

[quote][bold]mt[/bold] wrote: If dairy farmers are allowed to go out of business, decades of breeding of the cows is lost, the land will be sold for housing and we will have to purchase milk from abroad. We will not know what the cows have been fed or condition they are in when we purchase milk in the future. Why can't our Dairy Farmers, and our Fishermen, be given a better deal?[/quote] It is British farmed beasts and fowl that are full of problems for the public!!! They are the ones which had to be banned from going to France, remember? The protests on animal transportation and cruel conditions were on this side of the Channel crossing and cost someone her life because the publics pleas were ignored. Imagine the wonderful house building land that could be freed up and the corrections to the housing market which would ensue if your prediction was true. Why can't dairy farmers get a better deal? Dairy farmers and our fishermen cannot get a better deal because they stood by and watched as the miners were made redundant by Thatcher's market forces because their produce was deemed to be over subsidised and unprofitable in the real market just like todays farmer's produce. Forgive me for lacking sympathy but one good turn deserves another.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant. The fact that Wiseman's price it pays farmers is up by 40% over the past year is irrelevant to Mr Macintyre. He doesn't supply Wiseman!

Sorry but I don't see many local dairy farmers giving up their Range Rovers for a more practical Defenders.

[quote]Imagine the wonderful house building land that could be freed up and the corrections to the housing market which would ensue if your prediction was true. Why can't dairy farmers get a better deal? Dairy farmers and our fishermen cannot get a better deal because they stood by and watched as the miners were made redundant by Thatcher's market forces because their produce was deemed to be over subsidised and unprofitable in the real market just like todays farmer's produce.[/quote] Two wrongs don't make a right :( With the amount of dairy farmers giving up around here, it looks like there's a good chance that your wish might be granted re land... that is if you can compete with the interest from abroad in purchasing our land! The UK monthly milk production figures for April are the lowest on record and I see we're already importing milk from France... so when we run short of milk in this country and have to import amidst a global shortage, don't be surprised when we have to pay more for it in the long run. This applies to ALL our food.

Well J FT West if the Scottish people had voted for independece way back Thatcher could"nt have decimated fishing, mining,steel, shipbuilding and car industries. Those same people continued to vote for unionist parties so you could say that they got what they deserved ,including me. I don"t want to see farms sold off to the Irish and English as is happening now. I predict that Scotland in 50 years will be idistinguishable from another county in England if independence is not secured.

Jimmy Fae the West, Embra "Why can't dairy farmers get a better deal? Dairy farmers and our fishermen cannot get a better deal because they stood by and watched as the miners were made redundant by Thatcher's market forces because their produce was deemed to be over subsidised and unprofitable in the real market just like todays farmer's produce. Forgive me for lacking sympathy but one good turn deserves another." Born in a mining community, I have respect for miners. At the time of the miners strike, I never understood why miners followed Arthur Scargill & co and withdrew their labour at the beginning of summer. Lions led by donkeys seems appropriate. Dairy farmers, fishermen and transport companies are now in dire straits due to the fuel increases which the government ignores as the treasury profits from it. If dairy farmers or fishermen withdraw their labour, they will suffer before anyone else. During the Grangemouth crisis, many suggested to me that all hauliers should use their vehicles to block the motorways and other roads to bring the country to a standstill. One young man, a butcher, was clear and concise with his argument carefully thought out. I asked him how he would feel if one of his parents suffered a heart attack or his child an accident and rushing to them to the hospital, he could not get them past the H.G.V. which was blocking his path. It is the public who must insist to the government that they want milk from British cattle, fish caught by British fishermen and foreign hauliers to be taxed and adhere to the same rules & regulation as British Hauliers. If they don't then there will be none left and Britain will be left much poorer than it is now.