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21 October 2011 | Angeline Albert
The Department for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has said the dairy
industry should do more to lead its own change. It follows demands
that it make milk buyers comply with the European Commission’s procurement
proposals.
Defra made its comments in a report published this week in response the Environment, Food and Rural AffairsCommittee’s (EFRA)
own review. The EFRA report called for Defra to ensure buyers give dairy farmers written contracts that specify the
milk price, volume and timing of deliveries in line with EC’s ‘milk package’
proposals.
In its
response,
Defra said: “The government can take steps to help, but the
dairy industry has a significant responsibility for its own future and is far
better placed than government to lead change in many respects.”
Defra said work already being
done by industry and the government included involvement in the Dairy Supply Chain Forum,
which brings those in the dairy supply chain together to discuss sustainable
development.
It
also highlighted the launch of GovernmentBuying Standards (aimed at driving sustainable procurement among public sector buyers) and its
plan to introduce an adjudicator
to enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice, which was introduced last
year.
Defra said “it is unclear when the commission milk package will
come into force” with it possibly being agreed this autumn or taking longer to
complete negotiations with European Parliament.
The
department said actions mentioned such as the Dairy Supply Chain Forum are
“concrete and proactive and are likely to produce results more quickly than
relying on EU regulation”.
In July, the EFRA committee
published a report EU proposals for the dairy sector and the future of the dairy industry, which identified problems including
confusing pricing, buyers changing prices at short notice or retrospectively
and volumes not being specified.
