§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support and assistance she is providing to dairy farmers. [79226]
§ Mr. MorleyAnnual EU expenditure on the Dairy CAP runs at almost 2 billion euro. Over the last year, mindful of the difficult market situation in the dairy sector, measures have taken in Brussels, backed by the Government, to increase support in the sector. For example, export refunds have been increased for skimmed milk powder, whole milk powder and butter to help encourage exports by making up the difference between Community and world prices. Despite this considerable expenditure, the farmgate price of milk remains below the level at which many dairy farmers can696W make the investment required to sustain their business. This clearly shows that the current Dairy CAP is failing farmers and is in need of reform.
We believe that a sustainable future for dairy farming is best secured through the recommendations in the Report of the Policy Commission on the Future of Food and Farming, together with the Milk Task Force Report. The Government has already announced measures to take forward some of the recommendations in the Policy Commission Report and we will publish our Sustainable Agriculture Strategy shortly. Furthermore, my noble friend Lord Whitty has convened a number of meetings of an informal dairy supply chain group, including representatives of dairy farmers, which has addressed issues of concern to those in the dairy supply chain that came out of these reports. This group is also likely to consider how the industry can best address any lessons that emerge from the ongoing KPMG study on the structure of the UK dairy sector and milk pricing, which was commissioned by the Milk Development Council.