AT the spring annual council meeting of the Devon Federation of Women?s Institutes the following resolution was passed unanimously by delegates representing over 7,000 members:
?This meeting urges all WI members to do all in their power to raise public awareness of the unfair difference between the retail price of milk and the price paid to the farmer?.
A recent survey by Manchester and Newcastle University for DEFRA and the dairy industry, found that 60% of dairy farmers did not cover the cost of production.
While the retail price of milk has risen considerably over the past few years, the price to the farmer has fallen by over 30% in the last eight years.
It is obvious that the considerable hardship suffered by these farmers cannot be endured indefinitely and many of them will go out of business in the next year or two.
The now prosperous dairy processing industry will suffer in consequence and the countryside will have lost one of its great assets.
Our members would like this to be generally recognised.
Birte Brett
President
Afternoon WI