Dairy crisis shows industry is unsustainable

Dairy farmers have been grabbing headlines in recent days and weeks with a series of high-profile protests over falling milk prices that have included buying up all the milk on supermarket shelves and even taking live dairy cows into stores. But is the dairy crisis really all about the greed of big business, or are dairy farmers themselves to blame?

Dairy farmers claim that supermarkets are driving down the price of milk as part of a price war to attract more customers, forcing them to sell milk at a loss and pushing them out of business. But here are a few facts about the dairy industry:

• The farming press has reported that dairy farmers have increased milk production across the EU since the scrapping of milk quotas in March this year, driving down prices across the continent.
• The price of global dairy commodities has also been falling for months because of worldwide over-production of milk.
• Whilst the number of dairy cows in the UK has decreased over the past few years, cows are now forced to produce ten per cent more milk per animal than a decade ago.

Despite continually pushing cows to produce unnaturally large and ever-increasing quantities of milk, whilst also receiving huge public subsidies, it seems that dairy farmers seem unable to turn a profit on milk. And yet they believe they should be further protected from market forces that govern supply and demand. It is clear that too much milk is being produced – certainly more than people are willing to buy – proving that the dairy industry as it stands is unsustainable. Rather than artificially propping up dairy farming, the industry should be left to naturally contract, which would also help to reduce the number of animals suffering at the heart of it.

Dairy cows are one of the most exploited animals in British farming. Now, not content with subjecting them to repeated rounds of artificial insemination, taking away their new-born young and increasingly confining them to zero-grazing units, farmers are using cows to promote the very industry that exploits them. Taking cows into supermarkets – with all their noise, crowds, bright lights and pathogens that they wouldn’t normally encounter – is not only stressful to the animals, but is a serious biosecurity risk that threatens the health and lives of their entire herd. And this at a time when badgers are being falsely blamed, and killed, for spreading disease.

Rather than supporting British farmers, show your support instead for British dairy cows by going vegan.