Quintin Jardine's blog

I read something a couple of days ago that has me a little alarmed. Britain’s dairy farmers are sending out distress signals. They are saying that they are being forced by their customers to accept prices that are below the cost of production, and that they are facing oblivion. Yes, I know, ‘Show me a poor farmer,’ but twenty years ago I made a PR pitch to the Scottish Dairy Council, and as my memories of that occasion put me instinctively on their side.

The debate can rage on, and I’m all for reasonable pricing, but there’s this: if you are a UK consumer reading this. If the farmers are right, and the industry goes into freefall, do you want to be forced to buy imported UHT milk produced in countries where our government has no way of monitoring standards?