Many have shared their overwhelming support for the industry alongside their own willingness to pay more for milk, providing the extra goes to dairy farmers who are facing an increasingly tough time.
Echoing that sentiment, the Facebook page ‘I’m happy to pay more for milk’ now has over 23,000 likes.
NFU media work earlier this year led to a groundswell of support for dairy farmers from the public, reaching nearly 1 million people on social media.
Here are just a few of the many comments people have posted on NFUonline and social media showing support for our British dairy industry.
Comments from NFUOnline:
Yvonne Turner: Milk is one of the most wonderful naturally produced healthy drinks on this planet and we must sustain it in any way we can. I am prepared to pay more and indeed I do when buying straight from the local dairy farm and don't mind paying more from supermarkets if the farmers are paid decently for it.
Beryl Henshaw: While milk is cheaper to buy than water in plastic bottles the market is all wrong. My family buy bottles of milk at services instead of water, that way they get food as well as drink.
Lindsey Williams: My father used to sell his milk to the Milk Marketing Board many years ago. Was that more beneficial to the farmers in those days?
Lynne Fraser: I think that the government should look closely at the prices they pay the farmers they deserve to have a living wage. I am sure that most of us would not wish to do their job, early morning, late nights and inclement weather. I for one would be happy to pay more for my milk, we should thank them for what they do for us.
Sue Palmer: We were the sixth generation to run our dairy herd but last August we were forced out of milk due to the extremely low price of milk - 11p per pint, not even the cost of production. We sold to Tesco via Arla and although they put the price up in their shops it went down to the producer - seasonal adjustment, pay more for transport etc. Dairy farming in this country is dying FAST and unless organisations like the NFU and the government intervene soon and I mean soon there will be no dairy farms within the next few years. There will be no farming in this country soon unless the producers start getting a fair price.
Netta Gill: When will people realise the true cost of cheap milk at the supermarket? When we no longer see cows in our countryside or when that countryside has disappeared under housing developments because it has been sold off by farmers who can no longer continue in business trading at a loss? Then we will be importing all our milk and be at the mercy of other countries' political whims for our staple foods. Wake up to reality Britain!
Christine: I would happily pay more for milk (as it is I buy bottled for the sake of the environment) if I was sure that the FARMERS were getting the extra cash. Not the processors, or the transporters or the supermarkets. THE FARMERS
Jack Hall: I think the price of milk should go up otherwise the United Kingdom will not have any milk because the dairy farmers can’t afford to carry on with the price of milk.
Mrs Hallam: How can the government sit back and cripple the British farming community. Milk prices are criminal, surely British producers deserve a better livelihood. The family farm will be extinct if something isn't done soon.
Lindsey Williams: I doubt very much that the scheduled meetings will amount to anything positive, it is a ploy by the retailers to gain 'delay time'. Cheap milk is used as a loss leader to drag customers into the retailers shop.
Sue Gallagher : Wake up people, do not buy cheap milk, we will all wake up one day and all our dairy farmers will have gone and then you will have to pay a huge amount for your milk because we will have to import it, dairy farmers are so important please back them.
Julie Davidson: Please can I start a petition for 100,000 signatures for it to be brought to the Government on a set sustainable milk price for our farmers, regardless of what the supermarkets say! We need to keep and encourage all farming in this country and produce more, not import from the EU?
Tony Cottingham: Tesco among others has a scheme to pay farmers a fair price, very welcome news but they still charge very little for milk. Is there any chance of negotiating direct support from the public by supermarkets offering a direct transfer element of till payment back to milk supplier farmers? Could there be an optional facility to pay a 'Milk Farmers' Boost' of say 2p a pint that would get back to farmers without deductions on the way, as a part of responsible supermarket support for farmers?. Well done the milk farmers for holding on for us and may reasonable and sensible relief come soon.
Facebook:
Joe Dawson: I think it’s really bad for farmers when we pay more for a bottle of water than a pint of milk. I would happily pay 1.50 for a bottle of milk as I think for the hard work and financial cost it would be worth it.
Michelle Fox: It's ridiculous. How do they expect farming to survive when they are being paid so little for their milk.
Elaine Salt: My husband has just lost his job after 26 years milking cows because of the milk price. Farmer are getting 17p a litre and it takes 25p to run a cow. You can’t continue on those figures.
Amanda Robinson: My husband has been out the house since 3.30am still not home at 8.15pm and the price going down again next week, it’s disgraceful.
Chris Atkins: I try to buy milk which is not severely discounted. Supermarkets won't care if our farmers go under.
Janet Lamb: I buy my milk from a farm nearby which has its own dairy. It's more expensive than supermarket milk but a hundred times better. Well worth the extra and a lot cheaper than rubbish fizzy drinks which seem to be essential to a vast number of people.
KirstieRowlandson: I'd happily pay more for milk, I feel guilty when I pay £1 for 4pts.
Bill Lee: It's not the public you need to convince it's the retailers who are hell-bent on breaking the dairy farmers, if they aren't then why keep dropping the price below what is sustainable.
Dave Nimmo: Give the farmers a living wage if we don't pay more for our milk, the end of dairy farms will accelerate.
Wendy Foden-Whickett: I'd willingly pay more as long as it went to the farmers.
Harriet Drouin: It's more than just buying British though (although yes, you should do that). It's about buying from a supplier that pays the farmer a fair price.
Carole Duncan: The farmers need to be given a basic price of more than it costs to produce, they need that to stay in business. How many others would work for a loss so why should they? The British farmer is not being fairly paid or treated . There ought to be a law that they get above what it takes to produce.
Gladys Black: I used to get my milk delivered, but they stopped, in our rural area. They have very early mornings. I still would have it delivered, if I had the choice. The farmers deserve better!
DMarie Norton: We should all buy milk and dairy foods produced in the UK, but also try to buy British produced food and products where ever possible.
Keith Rogers: All farms had their own dairies in the 60s and 70s why not do it again stop selling to supermarkets sell direct to the public deliver to the door every day; let’s take a step backwards it will pay in the long run.
Karen Powell: I buy from my local milkman and he delivers to the door daily. I pay 60p per pint. Do I care? NO Am I rich NO! He pays his suppliers 32p per litre and it goes to the local dairy farmers in my area where the cows go out to graze. That's why I pay it.