Rising costs for West Midlands farmers 'pretty depressing'

Dairy farmers in the West Midlands said rising costs over the past 12 months are making producing milk "pretty depressing".

The war in Ukraine combined with the post-Covid economic recovery have pushed up prices of fuel, fertiliser and animal feed.

Tristan Bennett farms in Lower Wick, near Worcester, and said he loses money for every litre his cows produce.

"It is quite depressing doing the maths," he said.

On Manor Farm near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Charles Goadby said he is being forced to make cutbacks where he can to save money.

"That means just feeding the cows just fractionally less so they are still going to be healthy, they are still going to get everything they need but it is just going to cut that milk yield down a little bit more," he said.

The price of a four pint (2.2litre) bottle of milk will go up in price in supermarkets soon by 50% to between £1.60-£1.70, dairy market experts Kite Consulting have claimed.

The rise is contested by the British Retail Consortium which said supermarkets will instead be willing to take the hit to get customers through their doors.

But for farmers, the conflict in Ukraine has added to cost rises which were already going up after the pandemic.

Animal feed has increased by 70% since 2020 and fertiliser from £250 per tonne in 2021 to £1,000 per tonne in 2022, according to the National Farmers' Union.

Mr Bennett said he gets paid 32p for each litre of milk but it costs 38.5p per litre to produce and when "you have lost £200-£300 that day it is pretty depressing really".

Similar figures are being faced by Mr Goadby and he said he wished people could accept paying more for their milk.

"I think a lot of food, we do not appreciate what goes into producing it, how good it is in this country," he said.

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