Comments on: Milk - what does it cost and where is it from? http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/ A piecemeal investigation into the origins of our food Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:10:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Laurentiu http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-3826 Laurentiu Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:06:55 +0000 http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-3826 I'm from Romania, If you think that's bad, do know that here a Liter of milk is on average about 65 pence and that the farmer only gets about 10-12 pence for a liter of milk. That's surely outrageous and i hope they do something about it. Also, a Romanian-breed cow , i don't know the Latin exact name, so here's a picture, http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/baltataromaneasca/images/baltanaromaneasca-web-1.jpg sells for less than 500 pounds, sometimes for as little as 200-250 GBP (i'm talking about an adult , healthy , 3-5 year old cow !!!!! :O ) I’m from Romania,
If you think that’s bad, do know that here a Liter of milk is on average about 65 pence and that the farmer only gets about 10-12 pence for a liter of milk. That’s surely outrageous and i hope they do something about it.

Also, a Romanian-breed cow , i don’t know the Latin exact name, so here’s a picture, http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/baltataromaneasca/images/baltanaromaneasca-web-1.jpg

sells for less than 500 pounds, sometimes for as little as 200-250 GBP (i’m talking about an adult , healthy , 3-5 year old cow !!!!! :O )

]]> By: Richard http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-81 Richard Wed, 02 May 2007 11:04:56 +0000 http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-81 I'd be interested to read the science behind your claim that pasturised milk leeches calcium from our bones - is there a website you can point us to that substantiates this claim? I’d be interested to read the science behind your claim that pasturised milk leeches calcium from our bones - is there a website you can point us to that substantiates this claim?

]]> By: Ruth http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-80 Ruth Mon, 30 Apr 2007 15:57:15 +0000 http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-80 You could stop drinking milk! - Cows milk IS a detrimental food for human animals. Its design is for the growth of calves. The mis information given to the public about milk is the biggest conspiracy going! Paturised milk leeches calcium from our bones. Milk is NOT a good or viable food for human animals. Think outside the conceptualised box of indoctrinated misinformation and source protein from viable sources suitable for the human animal. And no I am not a emotive vegan. Just scientific medical sense. Do our doctors know this. YES they do. Do the dairy industry know this YES they do. Do we know it. No - we are the indoctrinated ones, programmed to drink this liquid - costing the public high in maintenance. Why do our farmers need subsidising, cause they are not growing what works. Do I feel concerned for the farmers. No if you dont grow what works you dont get paid. Its not up to the government or the british public to give subsidy to an industry that is insisting on staying with the conceptual restraint of failure. You could stop drinking milk! - Cows milk IS a detrimental food for human animals. Its design is for the growth of calves.
The mis information given to the public about milk is the biggest conspiracy going!
Paturised milk leeches calcium from our bones.
Milk is NOT a good or viable food for human animals.

Think outside the conceptualised box of indoctrinated misinformation and source protein from viable sources suitable for the human animal.
And no I am not a emotive vegan.
Just scientific medical sense.
Do our doctors know this. YES they do.
Do the dairy industry know this YES they do.
Do we know it. No - we are the indoctrinated ones, programmed to drink this liquid - costing the public high in maintenance.
Why do our farmers need subsidising, cause they are not growing what works.
Do I feel concerned for the farmers. No if you dont grow what works you dont get paid.
Its not up to the government or the british public to give subsidy to an industry that is insisting on staying with the conceptual restraint of failure.

]]> By: Nick http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-57 Nick Sun, 22 Apr 2007 08:48:21 +0000 http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-57 Richard - A lot depends on what's available locally. Where I live, I'm lucky to be able to buy truly locally sourced milk from the local Co-op. And, were I to go to the nearest Morrisons, I'd be able to buy local milk from another, farmer-owned dairy. And this is in East Anglia, hardly a major dairying area. I think the main thing is to look and what's available and demand more information - where our milk comes from, the terms and price for the farmer etc. At least things seem to be improving. The Tesco announcement does mark an improvement and other supermarkets have already improved their milk sourcing. Richard - A lot depends on what’s available locally. Where I live, I’m lucky to be able to buy truly locally sourced milk from the local Co-op. And, were I to go to the nearest Morrisons, I’d be able to buy local milk from another, farmer-owned dairy. And this is in East Anglia, hardly a major dairying area. I think the main thing is to look and what’s available and demand more information - where our milk comes from, the terms and price for the farmer etc. At least things seem to be improving. The Tesco announcement does mark an improvement and other supermarkets have already improved their milk sourcing.

]]> By: Richard http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-49 Richard Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:30:52 +0000 http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-49 So what can we do about it? It's surely impractical to say we should buy milk from somewhere other than the supermarket? While it seems great that a British business is making £2.55billion profit, this is surely unsustainable when they do this by putting their suppliers out of business - or are we to assume that Tesco et al are happy to see us having only imported milk on the shelves? To push the buying price up to 22p a litre doesn't really help the farmer - it leaves him in a very risky business situation. So what can we do about it? It’s surely impractical to say we should buy milk from somewhere other than the supermarket?
While it seems great that a British business is making £2.55billion profit, this is surely unsustainable when they do this by putting their suppliers out of business - or are we to assume that Tesco et al are happy to see us having only imported milk on the shelves?
To push the buying price up to 22p a litre doesn’t really help the farmer - it leaves him in a very risky business situation.

]]> By: Nick http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-48 Nick Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:21:25 +0000 http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-48 Richard - It's an all too familiar story. According to the NFU, it costs the average farmer 21p to produce a litre of milk, for which they're paid an average of 17.3p. 10 years ago, farmers were receiving around 25p per litre. As the farm price has dropped, the retailers' margin has massively increased. Its a desperately unsustainable situation and dairy farmers are going out of business fast. Richard - It’s an all too familiar story. According to the NFU, it costs the average farmer 21p to produce a litre of milk, for which they’re paid an average of 17.3p. 10 years ago, farmers were receiving around 25p per litre. As the farm price has dropped, the retailers’ margin has massively increased. Its a desperately unsustainable situation and dairy farmers are going out of business fast.

]]> By: Richard http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-47 Richard Thu, 19 Apr 2007 10:50:37 +0000 http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/19/milk-what-does-it-cost-and-where-is-it-from/#comment-47 I bumped into an old school friend recently - someone I haven't seen in getting on for 20 years. His family owned a mid-sized dairy herd - note the past tense. After a few years of running the farm himself, my old pal had to get out of it - he just couldn't make it pay. It struck me as very sad indeed. He's now selling feed to farmers - and that means having to travel further and further afield as other dairy farmers give up the ghost. I wonder how many consumers know that of the 49p-80p a litre they are paying, significantly less than half goes to the farmer. Do you know what the average cost of production is? I bumped into an old school friend recently - someone I haven’t seen in getting on for 20 years. His family owned a mid-sized dairy herd - note the past tense.
After a few years of running the farm himself, my old pal had to get out of it - he just couldn’t make it pay. It struck me as very sad indeed.
He’s now selling feed to farmers - and that means having to travel further and further afield as other dairy farmers give up the ghost.
I wonder how many consumers know that of the 49p-80p a litre they are paying, significantly less than half goes to the farmer.

Do you know what the average cost of production is?

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