Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government takes to help dairy farmers affected by reductions in the price of milk.

Farmers are under real pressure because of the fall in global dairy prices. There is no magic bullet, but the Government is doing all it can to support the industry and boost dairy exports which are now at record levels.

We have committed to extending the current system of tax averaging – for the first time farmers will be able to average out the tax they pay on their profits from two to five years which will help to manage the fluctuations in income caused by weather or global events.

We are encouraging farmers to unite in Producer Organisations which will give them more collective power. Producer Organisations are a good way of building greater resilience into the industry and individual businesses.

Consumers are increasingly looking for British produce on the supermarket shelves, and I would like to see better labelling on our dairy products to help them distinguish British cheese, cream and other dairy. This is something we have been pushing for in Europe and will continue to make the case.