UK farmers launch strikes against supermarkets

Thu, 03 Nov 2005
 
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Consumers are being urged to stock up as farmers launch a series of strikes over the prices supermarkets pay for their produce.

Members of the pressure group Farmers for Action will withhold supplies of milk, meat and vegetables today, tomorrow and Friday with more protests threatened before Christmas.

Organisers hope at least 2,000 farmers will join the action. Farmers for Action said that dairy farmers are being paid just 17p a litre for milk, compared with a price of 27p in 1995.

The co-ordinator for Scotland, dairy farmer John Cumming from Stranraer, confirmed the action was going ahead. "It will probably grow a lot more than 2,000 farmers over the next three days," he said. "It will involve milk, beef, pork, vegetables anything produced on a farm."

Chairman David Handley, a dairy farmer in Monmouthshire, said the strike would put pressure on retailers to make sure primary producers "get a substantial return for their product."

He said, "We hope this will draw attention to the benefits of home grown, UK product and the health dangers to both man and beast of imported supplies."

He added that as well as the livelihoods of his members, the health of consumers was being put at risk when major retailers sourced cheap food from across the world.

He warned more strikes would follow in the run-up to Christmas.

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