The Market and Consumers, Not Legislation, Will Shape the Dairy Industry’s Future – Dairy UK

Begg: “This is an interesting and much improved package compared with earlier proposals. The decision on producer organisations to leave the question of scale to national competition authorities is sensible”.

12/13/2010 --- Commenting on the European Commission’s proposals to improve future stability in the dairy sector, Dairy UK Director General Jim Begg said “This is an interesting and much improved package compared with earlier proposals. The decision on producer organisations to leave the question of scale to national competition authorities is sensible”. Dairy UK is a trade association that represents the interests of dairy farmers, producer co-ops, milk processors and doorstep deliverymen.

“On contracts, I think that some change will materialise in other EU member states. Fortunately, in the UK, we are already where I suspect the Commission wants the rest of Europe to be, with solid engagement between farmers and processors allowing the transfer of market signals, backed up by established contractual relations”.

“Ultimately, the market, and in particular our ability to respond to changing consumer demands for milk and dairy products, is what will determine our prosperity, not regulation”.