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UK News

CofE urges consumers to buy British

by Hannah Tooley

It is part of an open appeal from the Church's National Rural Officer, Dr Jill Hopkinson.

She says it takes around 10 litres of milk to make a kilo of hard cheese like cheddar and so it is important to buy as much dairy based products as possible after farmers say they are suffering a crisis in the industry.

The Church says roughly half the milk produced in the UK is used to make dairy products like cheese and yoghurt and so it is asking shoppers to think about their purchases.

The church says it is easy to find out if something is produced in the UK by looking for a small union jack or red tractor on packets.

Dr Hopkinson has appealed for people to look at how much supermarkets pay farmers and to buy directly from farms where possible.

She said supermarkets have a responsibility: "When buying liquid milk Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer's and The Co-operative all source directly from dairy farmers and have a cost plus pricing model, which means the farmer receives more for the milk than it cost to produce.

"In recent days, Morrisons has introduced a new product where the consumer pays 10p extra for the milk, which will then be paid directly back to the farmer. This is an interesting development as it seems to absolve the supermarket from its responsibility to pay a fair price and puts the onus on the public to shop responsibly and pay more.

"Asda, Aldi and Lidl have also recently raised the price they pay for milk, but still a few pence short of the cost of production. Others at the time of writing, are yet to make any announcements.

"And sadly, having milk delivered is no guarantee that the price paid to the farmer is a good one."

 
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