We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.NFU 2010: Myths over 'better' milk contracts dispelled
AN NFU study into milk contracts has shown the notion co-operative contracts are better than PLCs is a complete myth.
Almost 200 farmers took part in an NFU exercise aimed at helping them to better understand their milk contracts and identify areas for improvement.
In a list of the big five, it was Wiseman’s that came out top in terms of having the most suppliers who were ‘satisfied’ with their contract. Next were Dairy Crest and Arla, with Milk Link and First Milk in fourth and fifth places respectively.
However, presenting the findings at the NFU conference this week, NFU chief dairy adviser Hayley Campbell-Gibbons added the caveat this was a very crude scoring system, which did not take into account the number of farmers who were ‘fairly satisfied’ or ‘not satisfied’ with their contracts – in which case the results would have been slightly different.
Discussing other headline figures from the analysis, Ms Campbell-Gibbons said overall feedback about the exercise was positive with 93 per cent of respondents saying they had found it useful and 84 per cent saying they now better understood their milk contract. This, Ms Campbell-Gibbons said, was a shocking statistic because it suggested an extremely high number of dairy farmers had signed a legal document binding them to contracts they did not fully understand.
She finished by saying there was a desire at the moment among processors to change and improve contracts and she urged farmers not to resist it but to seize the opportunity saying there were benefits to be had for both sides.
