Minister in vow to help farmers
A government minister has pledged to do all he can to help the region's beleaguered farmers – but warned there is no "magic solution" to falling prices for milk and lamb.
Neil Parish, speaking on a visit to Minsterley Show, said he accepted dairy and livestock farmers were going through "tough times".
But Mr Parish, who is chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee at the House of Commons, said he would be doing everything in his power to get prices back up. It comes after a week that saw farmers hold demonstrations at supermarkets in Shropshire over the prices suppliers receive for their milk, while further protests were held at livestock markets across the country over lamb prices.
Yesterday, farmers from Shropshire were among about 70 farmers who took cattle into Asda, in Queensway, Stafford.
Shocked shoppers cleared the aisles as the animals were led through the store to the milk shelves. The demonstration followed an announcement by Asda last week that it was to reduce the amount it pays farmers for milk by 0.8p a litre, to 23p.
Mr Parish, who was invited to the show on Saturday by Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski, said: "We're living through very tough times, and I understand that. I wish I had a magic solution to how we get the prices up, but we have got to work together.
"When supermarkets bring in milk as a 'loss leader', are they funding it themselves or are they making the farmers fund it?"
He said he would be calling for more powers for the Grocery Trade Adjudicator, who monitors the relationship between the supermarkets and their suppliers.
