Agriculture: Dairy Industry

Lord Scott of Foscote Excerpts

Monday 26th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

I acknowledge my noble friend’s point, but it will be up to the ombudsman to make these sorts of decisions. Industry tells us that there are grounds for cautious optimism in the dairy industry. The continuing decline in production has put pressure on buyers to pay more remunerative prices. Secondly, most major retailers now have dedicated groups of farmers supplying them with milk in return for premium prices.

[Lord Scott of Foscote]

My Lords, do the Minister’s answers apply simply to farms that produce milk by cows or do they apply also to the increasing number of farms where the milk is produced by goats?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, I am answering in respect of dairy. I think that means principally dairy cows.