Dairy Industry

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

I will be brief. If we are not a nation of farmers, what are we? The way of life that we enjoy derives its origin from the countryside, and this Government, if they are about anything, must be about supporting the rural economy.

Northumberland used to have one of the biggest collections of dairy farms in the United Kingdom; we now have very few. On 17 July, I met National Farmers Union representative Dennis Gibb and other dairy farmers. It was probably the saddest and most depressing meeting I have conducted in two and a half years as a constituency MP. One said that he could weep for the state of dairy farmers. One farmer, William Huddlestone from Allendale, explained to me how there used to be 30 dairy farmers in his dale, but now it is just him.

I underline everything said by colleagues in support of farmers. I welcome the Government’s efforts to promote fair competition and support dairy farmers. I also suggest that there is scope for a call to action, which must come from the other end of the spectrum. Many have talked about what Government and individual local organisations can do, but the harsh reality is that the large supermarkets are controlled by shareholders and pension funds, which can be shamed into what is now termed corporate social responsibility: in other words, acting fairly. Pressure must be applied not just at the bottom end of the scale by farmers, the NFU, Members of Parliament and county councils but at the top end, so that supermarkets know that if they continue to price British dairy farmers out of existence, their business will not be welcome and they will suffer the consequences of the campaigns waged over the summer, which I suggest will get a great deal worse for them.

I support entirely the actions taken by the NFU and individual farmers, and I welcome boycotts of individual supermarkets that fail to play ball and support the farmers whom they assiduously say they support but to whom they do not provide the prices deserved. I will happily lead a boycott of my local supermarkets in Northumberland that fail to do so for any particular farm.

This debate is also about how we treat the rural way of life. As my hon. Friend the Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart) made clear, it touches on everything from bank lending to rural broadband to how we treat the uplands and what the local community’s role is in supporting organisations. I note, for example, that Tesco makes hundreds of millions of pounds a year from dairy products. Although we would all love a return to the Milk Marketing Board—my farmers would certainly welcome it back with open arms—I urge the Minister to consider the Government’s ability to sanction and support the coming together of large regional collectives of producers, so that they can have some collective clout when negotiating.

I am conscious of the time. I apologise, Mr Betts, that I was unable to be here for the start of the debate. In those circumstances, I will draw my remarks to a close.