UK milk supply plunges

Britain's milk supply is running at historically low levels and may fall short of the quota set by the European Commission, the National Farmers Union told the BBC this week. Dairy farmers say that an increase in the price of milk is desperately needed to keep their businesses afloat. The typical farmer has been selling milk at a loss for most of the last four years. Now they are leaving dairy farming so there are fewer farmers, fewer herds and less milk. If the milk supply runs too short, food manufacturers will have to try to import more from the continent, or buy up supplies destined for Britain's doorsteps. According to the BBC, sources within the dairy industry dismissed talk of a milk shortage as a scare story, put about to frighten dairy companies into making price concessions just as negotiations get under way for long term supplycontracts. But it is clear that milk production has fallen to abnormally low levels.