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Milk - we pour it on our cereals and stick it in our tea. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
In the UK, we consume over nine billion pints every year, | 0:00:05 | 0:00:09 | |
but have we forgotten where it comes from? | 0:00:09 | 0:00:10 | |
I don't think people really know how much work goes into | 0:00:10 | 0:00:14 | |
getting milk onto that shelf. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:16 | |
Along with the dairy farms and cows that produce it, | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
milk has shaped our countryside and our way of life. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:23 | |
The dairy industry is just one piece of the jigsaw | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
within the whole countryside. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:27 | |
But now the industry is facing a crisis like never before. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:32 | |
This is the worst period I've seen in my working life. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:36 | |
Over the past 15 years, the number of dairy farmers | 0:00:36 | 0:00:40 | |
in Wales has halved. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:41 | |
On average, three farmers leave the industry every month. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:45 | |
It's an embarrassment on me, on myself, that I can't make it pay. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:49 | |
The traditional family dairy farm is in serious trouble. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
There isn't a future for every dairy farmer. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
Milk is now a global commodity and dairy is big business at the mercy | 0:00:56 | 0:01:00 | |
of the world markets. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:02 | |
Can Welsh farmers survive in this new cut-throat world? | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
There must be room for a small family farm. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
My name is Gareth Wyn Jones. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:12 | |
I'm a hill farmer and campaigner for the best of Welsh food and farming. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:17 | |
Do you know how much you're paying for your milk? | 0:01:17 | 0:01:19 | |
I want to explore the dairy industry from the inside, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
from the cow to the consumer | 0:01:22 | 0:01:24 | |
and from the farm to the supermarket shelf. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
I want to see what it takes to satisfy our thirst for milk | 0:01:27 | 0:01:31 | |
and find out if there is a future for the Welsh dairy farmer. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:35 | |
If I'm going to understand how this industry works, | 0:01:43 | 0:01:47 | |
I need to start at the beginning - the farmer. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
It is 5am on the north Wales coast | 0:01:51 | 0:01:53 | |
and this is Aber Ogwen Farm near Bangor. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
It's a typical Welsh dairy farm, handed down through the generations. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:04 | |
The Owen family milks around 120 cows and today the herd | 0:02:08 | 0:02:12 | |
is looked after by my old friend Carwyn. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
I've offered to give him a hand this morning, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
but this is an early start even for me. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:24 | |
You don't get any better than this, this morning. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:27 | |
No. Living the dream, boy! | 0:02:27 | 0:02:29 | |
Well... | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
-Do we want to go and get this one? -I'll shout on Bob if you will. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
Bob! | 0:02:34 | 0:02:35 | |
Bob! | 0:02:38 | 0:02:39 | |
Cheaper than a quad bike. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
-You don't have to pour petrol in him. -No. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
Nice to see a good working dog. | 0:02:44 | 0:02:45 | |
Well, I don't think he'd do well on One Man And His Dog, but... | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
North Wales may be known more for its hill farms than its dairy herds, | 0:02:52 | 0:02:56 | |
but I can remember when most farms were mixed. | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
Sheep were kept on the mountain and small milking herds | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
grazed the lowland pastures. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:04 | |
You can look down this coast, how many people milked here, Carwyn? | 0:03:04 | 0:03:08 | |
If you went 50 years, every farm milked, didn't they? | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
-Yeah. -And then you go back 20 years, | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
there's about eight gone here and there's only me left here now. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:18 | |
Carwyn's cows are milked twice a day, every day, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
365 days a year. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:26 | |
But it's been a few years since I did a shift. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
So you wipe each one of these now? | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
Yeah, just to make sure they're perfectly clean. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
-So we do each one of them now? -Yeah. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
Have you got any kickers? | 0:03:48 | 0:03:50 | |
Or are you not going to tell me? | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
We move on to this, Gareth. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
The machine's on? | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
Swing it round and it will come on. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
Oh, wow. OK. And then it's... | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
-Do you give it a little bit of a touch to say that we're here? -Yeah. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:05 | |
Still very early, the sun's just come up. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
It's going to take us about two hours to milk these cows. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
Oh, hey. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
It's a job to be doing this every single day, seven days a week, | 0:04:28 | 0:04:33 | |
twice a day as well. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
Carwyn's flying through these. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
I'm struggling to keep up with him. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
What's nice is you can hear him talking about every single cow | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
individually, he knows each one... | 0:04:47 | 0:04:48 | |
..and he has a real connection with them. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
People like Carwyn are putting everything they believe | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
into these cows and into these parlours, just to make a living. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
It's not for everyone. I don't think it would be for me. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
It's not the easiest way to make a living. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
It's not just the cows that Carwyn is investing his time in. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:13 | |
He's training his 15-year-old son Gwion to milk the family herd. | 0:05:13 | 0:05:18 | |
THEY SPEAK WELSH | 0:05:18 | 0:05:19 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
-All natural, there. -All natural. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
It's really nice, you know, watching Gwion here with his dad. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:32 | |
This is what family farms are about, | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
passing on that knowledge year in, year out. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:39 | |
It's a way of life that people... | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
..need to see. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:44 | |
With all the cows milked, they return to the fields. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
And with the parlour washed down, my shift is over. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
Carwyn and Gwion though will soon be back to do it all again. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
I don't think people understand how much time and how much commitment | 0:05:58 | 0:06:03 | |
goes to having milk on their cornflakes and in their tea. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
Cows need to be milked twice a day. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:09 | |
You can't hide, you know. If Carwyn doesn't feel well, | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
he has still got to get up and he has still got to do these. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
You've got to think that seven days a week, there's no hiding, | 0:06:15 | 0:06:19 | |
there's nowhere to go. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:20 | |
Welsh daily farms like this are in serious decline. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
Over the past decade, | 0:06:33 | 0:06:34 | |
there's been a steady trickle of farmers leaving the industry. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:37 | |
The roots of the current crisis are complex. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
But, put very simply, there's too much milk in the world. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:45 | |
When prices were high a few years ago, | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
milk producers across the globe increased their herds, | 0:06:48 | 0:06:52 | |
flooding the market with cheap milk. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:55 | |
The price crashed. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:56 | |
Small Welsh farms can't cope with this roller-coaster global market | 0:06:56 | 0:07:01 | |
and are now struggling to ride out the bad times. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
At the same time, supermarkets engaged in a ruthless price war. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:09 | |
They use staple household items as loss leaders and slashed | 0:07:09 | 0:07:13 | |
the price of milk. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
Many dairy producers feel that this has devalued milk in the eyes | 0:07:15 | 0:07:19 | |
of the consumer. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
For Welsh dairy farmers, it's a perfect storm. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:25 | |
This is the Royal Welsh Show, | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
the biggest agricultural event in Europe. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:33 | |
Farmers and their families come from all of the country to showcase | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
the best produce and livestock that Wales has to offer. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
If I want to gauge the state of the dairy industry today, | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
then this is the place to be. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:55 | |
And behind the parades and prizes, many farmers are angry. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:59 | |
I'll tell you on camera, we lost £60,000 in money last year. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
You lost £60,000? | 0:08:04 | 0:08:07 | |
-Yeah. -How was that? | 0:08:07 | 0:08:08 | |
The price of milk. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:10 | |
16.8 pence a litre I had on my last milk check. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:14 | |
-Is that not enough? -No, not from 16.8. | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
The cost of production is 25. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work that out. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
So you're producing something and losing money every day? | 0:08:22 | 0:08:26 | |
-Yeah. -That's not a good businessman. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:27 | |
I know. If you were a businessman, you'd sell up. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
Water is worth more than milk - | 0:08:31 | 0:08:32 | |
that doesn't make sense because that cow has got to drink water to | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
produce milk. All we want is a fair price, you know, and as it is now, | 0:08:35 | 0:08:39 | |
we're not having it. Far from it. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:41 | |
It's the summer of 2016. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:45 | |
The average price paid for milk is down to 18p a litre. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
But with the average cost of production at 24p a litre, | 0:08:51 | 0:08:55 | |
many farmers are losing 6p on every litre they produce. | 0:08:55 | 0:09:00 | |
It's frightening, really, | 0:09:02 | 0:09:04 | |
what has happened to agriculture in the past 12 months. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
When you've got milk price at 16 or 18p, | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
it doesn't give you a very bright future. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
A few years ago, the milk price was up at 30p a litre. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:20 | |
When times were good, | 0:09:20 | 0:09:21 | |
many farmers borrowed heavily and grew their herds and farms. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:25 | |
We have spent 1.8 million... | 0:09:26 | 0:09:28 | |
Wow! | 0:09:28 | 0:09:29 | |
..on our new set-up. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
As it is now, the products we sell are so devalued | 0:09:31 | 0:09:35 | |
we would never pay it back... | 0:09:35 | 0:09:37 | |
as the price of milk as it is now. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:39 | |
If you have another two years or another year of this, | 0:09:39 | 0:09:43 | |
where will you be? | 0:09:43 | 0:09:44 | |
Oh, we can't carry on. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:46 | |
We need the industry to survive and at the moment it's not. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:49 | |
I don't think I've ever heard so many farmers being so open | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
about their finances and how they feel about the industry. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:03 | |
These people are losing money every single day of the week. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:10 | |
They're hurting and frustrated. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
Passionate about what they do but not getting any reward. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:19 | |
And to me, a lot of these guys, | 0:10:19 | 0:10:21 | |
they're not going to be able to survive another 12 months. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:25 | |
This industry is in dire straits and something needs to happen. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
Not that long ago, the way we got our milk was simple and local. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
Dairy farmers supplied milk to lots of small local creameries and the | 0:10:40 | 0:10:45 | |
milkman brought milk to our doors. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:49 | |
In the last 20 years, our food chains have become far more complex. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:53 | |
Now the dairy industry is dominated by a couple of big processors | 0:10:53 | 0:10:58 | |
and a handful of big retailers. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
The balance of power in the milk supply chain lies not with the farmers, | 0:11:01 | 0:11:04 | |
but with the big corporations. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
And the gap between the farmer and your fridge is greater | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
than ever before. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
I think people have lost contact of how milk is produced. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:18 | |
Dairy farmers are in the front line, you know. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:20 | |
They're the ones that are bringing it for us to pour on our cornflakes, | 0:11:20 | 0:11:25 | |
pour in our tea, and we don't see that side of it. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
You know, probably the closest we get is when we walk | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
into a supermarket and when we grab that pinta. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:35 | |
I think we need to ask the question to ourselves, | 0:11:35 | 0:11:39 | |
as somebody that drinks a lot of milk, are we paying enough? | 0:11:39 | 0:11:44 | |
I want to find out more about the milk on supermarket shelves, | 0:11:44 | 0:11:48 | |
so I'm off to do a bit of shopping. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
Yes. So we're just arriving at the first supermarket in Bangor. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:56 | |
We're going to do a bit of shopping in Tesco. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:59 | |
Slightly against the grain. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
Well, one down, many more to go. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
Supermarket number two, Morrisons. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:09 | |
The cheapest one yet. | 0:12:16 | 0:12:17 | |
These supermarkets are just like factories, | 0:12:21 | 0:12:23 | |
people are just in and out and in and out. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
Just don't seem to think how much grip they've got. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
Next one - Lidl. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:32 | |
I just can't believe how many choices of the same thing there is | 0:12:40 | 0:12:45 | |
because it's all milk but sold in different kinds of packaging, | 0:12:45 | 0:12:50 | |
for different kinds of prices. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:52 | |
What's it all about? | 0:12:52 | 0:12:53 | |
To make sense of all this white stuff, I'm going to need some help. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
So who better than the National Farmers Union's chief dairy adviser, | 0:12:58 | 0:13:03 | |
Sian Davies? | 0:13:03 | 0:13:05 | |
I'm hoping she can tell me more about how the supermarkets | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
source their milk. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
So tell me a little bit about these five then, Sian. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:14 | |
So these five retailers all pay the farmers a cost production price. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
So the retailer works with their farming group to work out the average cost production | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
for the group and then they pay those farmers above that | 0:13:21 | 0:13:24 | |
cost of production. For example, Tesco here | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
has around 800 farmers supplying them and they work with that group | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
of farmers to work out their average cost of production and then they | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
would review that cost every six months and pay above that price. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:37 | |
Only around 15% of British dairy farmers | 0:13:37 | 0:13:40 | |
are on this sort of contract. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:42 | |
A few of the other retailers have taken a different approach. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
So I got this one from Asda and this says an extra 25p. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:51 | |
Now, this is part of a minimum price scheme. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
The retail price has gone up by 25p a bottle. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
The consumer chooses to pay more for this milk and they are guaranteed | 0:13:56 | 0:14:00 | |
that extra money goes back to the farm. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:02 | |
This scheme has been introduced by Arla, one of the biggest processors, | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
a Europe-wide farmer-owned cooperative | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
with over 13,000 members. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
That 25p goes back to the farmer? | 0:14:10 | 0:14:14 | |
25p - it won't be going to a farmer. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:16 | |
It won't be going to the farm down the road, | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
it will be shared in the pot across Europe. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:21 | |
I think some of the supermarkets | 0:14:25 | 0:14:27 | |
are paying a good price to some of the farmers. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
There is a few really good schemes, | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
where the farmer is going to benefit, | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
but it's not really a fair playing field. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
The majority are not having a fair slice of the cake. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:44 | |
Only a fraction of Welsh dairy farmers | 0:14:44 | 0:14:47 | |
will benefit from the supermarket schemes. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:49 | |
Many are at the mercy of a volatile, wider industry. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:53 | |
I've travelled to Powys to meet a second-generation dairy farmer | 0:14:57 | 0:15:01 | |
who's been struggling to make ends meet. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
Good morning. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:05 | |
-Are you well? -Yeah, thanks for the invitation. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:08 | |
Ian Gethin's family has built up their herd over the past 50 years | 0:15:08 | 0:15:12 | |
but now he's decided to sell his cows. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
These are the last ones going today. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:18 | |
Ah, right. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
It's a massive decision cos that's all I've always done and loved. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
But it's a lifetime of work, really, | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
you've been breeding what suits your farm. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
And it's a pity they've got to go, | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
but that seems to be the way it is going. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
At the end of the day, | 0:15:35 | 0:15:36 | |
if the milk price isn't there, you just cannot do it. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
For Ian, like most good farmers, this is much more than a business. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:44 | |
These cows mean the world to him | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
but, in the end, everything comes down to the finances. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
What's your cost of production here, is it pretty low? | 0:15:49 | 0:15:53 | |
-24p. -And your milk price is? | 0:15:53 | 0:15:56 | |
14 we were offered on the 1st of April. | 0:15:56 | 0:15:59 | |
So that's 10p under what you can produce it for. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
So, as a businessman, that's a no-brainer, isn't it? | 0:16:02 | 0:16:05 | |
Yes. It doesn't take much working out, does it? You don't need a calculator for that. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:09 | |
No, you're right there. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
Having done this twice a day almost every day since he was 12 years old, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:15 | |
this will be the last time Ian will milk his cows. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
Come on, girl. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:20 | |
It will be a different day for you tomorrow. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
-Yeah. -No milking. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:32 | |
No. This time last January we were milking 120 through here... | 0:16:32 | 0:16:36 | |
..as we have been doing the last few years. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
But you were losing money every single month. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:45 | |
Yes. Yeah, we were losing up to... | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
The last couple of months of milking, £3,000 a month. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
I was working for nothing and I was working to lose money, which is... | 0:16:52 | 0:16:56 | |
That had to be soul destroying? | 0:16:56 | 0:16:57 | |
Yes, it is. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
Yeah. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:01 | |
The last 18 months, really, what's happened with the milk price and... | 0:17:01 | 0:17:05 | |
You always get quite attached and proud of your own cows. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
Had you hoped one day that you would be passing this on | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
-to little Harry here? -Yes. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
Very much so. Same as my father's handed over to me, really. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
And you can keep gambling for a few years and hope it will come right, | 0:17:19 | 0:17:23 | |
but at the moment I don't see the future there. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:25 | |
So... | 0:17:29 | 0:17:31 | |
Yeah, it is very disheartening, | 0:17:31 | 0:17:32 | |
but...it's got to be done. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
I hear this at farm after farm. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:40 | |
The responsibility to pass it on, not to let people down, | 0:17:40 | 0:17:45 | |
not to be the one who fails. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
It's difficult, really, to understand how much pressure | 0:17:47 | 0:17:52 | |
is on this family. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
There's a lot of emotion | 0:17:55 | 0:17:57 | |
and I don't think he's taken this decision lightly. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:00 | |
Ian has been selling his herd gradually over the past six months. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:04 | |
This will be the last batch sent for auction. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:08 | |
He and his family are now the latest casualty of an increasingly | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
challenging and unforgiving industry. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
They won't be the last. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:16 | |
With farming you've got decisions every day, | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
but you've just got to sort of work it out really whether... | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
Is it the right thing to do? | 0:18:24 | 0:18:26 | |
My heart says stick at it, but my head says get out | 0:18:26 | 0:18:30 | |
because at the moment I don't see the future there. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:32 | |
You never could believe that this day would come when...? | 0:18:32 | 0:18:35 | |
No, no. You always think you will get a contract around the corner. | 0:18:35 | 0:18:39 | |
Where do you think the blame lies with the whole industry, Ian? | 0:18:39 | 0:18:44 | |
It's very difficult. You can blame lots of people, | 0:18:44 | 0:18:46 | |
but at the end of the day it's got to be the supermarket buying power... | 0:18:46 | 0:18:50 | |
..because they are selling milk as a loss leader. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:54 | |
They say they're not passing it back to the farmers, | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
but they obviously are devaluing the product. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
Ian's cows are going to Cheshire and will be sold at one of the biggest | 0:19:03 | 0:19:07 | |
dairy cattle sales in Britain, the Beeston Castle Auction. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:12 | |
Around 500 cows will be sold at the market today, | 0:19:12 | 0:19:14 | |
with buyers and sellers coming from as far afield as Kent and Scotland. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:19 | |
Ian plans to build up a herd of beef cattle, so the money he receives | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
for his cows will be vital for the future of the family farm. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:27 | |
Big day for you today. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:29 | |
Yes, it is. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:31 | |
Yeah, no, a bit nervous before selling them. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:33 | |
-You don't know what trade you'll have on the day. -No, no. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:38 | |
If he doesn't get a good price, or if the cows don't sell at all, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
it could jeopardise his hopes of rebuilding his business. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
Ian is going round now talking to people, saying what the best points | 0:19:48 | 0:19:52 | |
of his cattle are. It gets me a little bit that, you know, | 0:19:52 | 0:19:57 | |
that's it. That's it finished after all the time and all he put into it. | 0:19:57 | 0:20:03 | |
It comes to an end here, today, right now. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
As the auction gets underway, bids come flying in. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:12 | |
This is Ian's first cow in the ring, number 24. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
Ian is up in the box. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:22 | |
50, 80, 1,220, 50, 80. 1,280 I'm bid. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:27 | |
1,280 I'm bid now. 1,280... | 0:20:27 | 0:20:29 | |
Ian has got a £10 note in his hand and that's luck money. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:35 | |
Every cow he sells, he gives that £10 to the buyer | 0:20:35 | 0:20:39 | |
and it is an old tradition. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
In the end, all of Ian's cows have sold. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:44 | |
His days in the dairy industry may be over, | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
but at least he's still got a future in farming. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
It's been so nice to see Ian having a fair price | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
for his cattle here today. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:55 | |
He can take that money home now and reinvest it | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
in the family farm. | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
Ian's story is far from unique. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
He's one of the many farmers to have left dairy in recent years. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:07 | |
Auctioneer Clive Norbury has seen the challenges facing the industry. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:12 | |
Well, I'm in my 42nd year of work | 0:21:12 | 0:21:15 | |
and, yes, I've seen massive changes. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:17 | |
There were 35,000 milk producers when I started my work. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:21 | |
Now we're down to around between 9,000 and 9,500, | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
which is a colossal change. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
This is the worst period I have seen in my working life. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:31 | |
Not only for the milk producers, | 0:21:31 | 0:21:32 | |
but the hundreds of people that hang on a cow's tail - | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
and there's hundreds of us. You know, it's affected everybody. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:39 | |
The dairy industry is just one piece of the jigsaw within | 0:21:46 | 0:21:50 | |
the whole community of farming, countryside. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:54 | |
The knock-on effect on the dairy boys going out must be hitting | 0:21:55 | 0:21:59 | |
the smaller businesses that sell to these guys. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:04 | |
I think we need to look at how we can help the smaller family farms | 0:22:04 | 0:22:09 | |
because, you take them out of the equation, we will lose something | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
in what is cefn gwlad, | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
what is the countryside, | 0:22:16 | 0:22:17 | |
and that is the traditional small family farm. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
So we won't see these patchwork fields | 0:22:22 | 0:22:24 | |
and these black-and-white cows dotted around - they will be gone. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:28 | |
I think it's about time we did something about this crisis | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
and took the message to the masses. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:36 | |
The only people I haven't chatted with yet are the consumers. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:48 | |
Do they really know how much work goes into getting milk | 0:22:48 | 0:22:52 | |
onto that supermarket shelf? | 0:22:52 | 0:22:54 | |
I don't think they do. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:56 | |
I want to find out what the great Welsh public really know about | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
their milk, so I'm off to see a man about a cow. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
I've come to Anglesey to meet award-winning breeder Euan Hughes. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:10 | |
You and your family built this herd over many generations. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:13 | |
Yes, yes, I'm the third generation. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:15 | |
My grandfather started it all off. | 0:23:15 | 0:23:18 | |
That must be something that you feel really proud about. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:20 | |
Oh, I'm very proud, I'm very passionate. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:22 | |
That's my biggest fault as a businessman - | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
I'm a sentimental farmer. I love my cows. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:28 | |
Yeah. Is it a sad feeling that, when you're milking twice a day | 0:23:28 | 0:23:33 | |
and getting such a low price for what you do? | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
Well, for over two years now, | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
I've been selling milk cheaper than what I can produce it for. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
Yeah. Lots in the business will say, "Get out," | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
but you can't do it. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
How can I turn around to my grandmother who's 94 to say, | 0:23:47 | 0:23:53 | |
"After all you and my grandfather have done, | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
"after all my parents have done, I can't make it pay"? | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
You know, it is embarrassment. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:01 | |
It feels like it is an embarrassment on me, on myself, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
-that I can't make it pay. -It's the passion and dedication that farmers | 0:24:04 | 0:24:08 | |
like Euan have for their work that I think we need to show to the public. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:13 | |
I have come up with a crazy idea | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
of taking a milking cow into Llandudno. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
It is a crazy but good idea. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
Euan has selected his finest cow, Maya, | 0:24:22 | 0:24:26 | |
but there's a catch. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:27 | |
-You want to take my cow to Llandudno... -Yeah. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
-..you're going to have to wash her. -Oh! | 0:24:31 | 0:24:33 | |
-That's all right with me. -There you go. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:40 | |
THEY SPEAK WELSH | 0:24:40 | 0:24:41 | |
THEY SPEAK WELSH | 0:25:01 | 0:25:02 | |
I think I seen a car wash down the road there. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
You sure it was a car wash, it wasn't a cow wash? | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
It will be now! | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
Do a lot of cow washing? | 0:25:19 | 0:25:20 | |
-Always a first, isn't it? -Is it all right if I use the pressure washer? | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
Is it a special one or something? | 0:25:26 | 0:25:28 | |
With Maya washed, it's time to hit the streets of Llandudno. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:36 | |
And with a quick costume change... | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
A change of hats. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:39 | |
..I am ready to meet the people and I'm armed with ice-cold milk | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
and a megaphone. Come and try... | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
Got to switch it on first, haven't I? | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
Do you know where your milk comes from? Meet Maya the cow. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:52 | |
Come over and try some glorious ice-cold milk. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:56 | |
In return for a free glass, | 0:25:56 | 0:25:58 | |
I want to know how much people really know about the milk they buy. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:02 | |
Do you guys know how much a pint of milk costs? | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
Do you know how much? | 0:26:07 | 0:26:08 | |
Do you know how much you pay for your pint? | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
-Ask her, not me. -Do you know how much you're paying for your milk? | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
Come over, have a chat. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:16 | |
So, do you know how much you pay for your milk? | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
No. Neither of you have got a clue? | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
It's about, um... | 0:26:22 | 0:26:24 | |
Um... | 0:26:24 | 0:26:25 | |
Um... | 0:26:25 | 0:26:27 | |
People are seriously confused about how much they pay. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:29 | |
They really don't know. I've had all kinds of different price ranges | 0:26:29 | 0:26:34 | |
and it's quite funny. What's really great to see is the number of people | 0:26:34 | 0:26:39 | |
taking an interest in Maya the cow | 0:26:39 | 0:26:41 | |
and taking the time to speak to Euan. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:43 | |
It's difficult for these guys, you know, because it's costing them more. | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
-I know. -More to produce it than... | 0:27:00 | 0:27:02 | |
-I've seen it on the news. -Have you? -Yeah. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:04 | |
And a lot of people seem sympathetic to the challenges | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
facing dairy farmers and many think that milk is too cheap. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:12 | |
-Would you be willing to pay a little bit extra? -I would. I would. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
Definitely, without a shadow of a doubt. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
Why not? Yeah. We are paying for everything extra, why not for milk? | 0:27:17 | 0:27:22 | |
I would pay £1.50 at least for four pints | 0:27:22 | 0:27:24 | |
if that meant people didn't get short-changed. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:26 | |
I'm going to give you a little bit more because | 0:27:26 | 0:27:29 | |
you've been so supportive. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:30 | |
Does a day like this give you a kind of hope and a feel-good factor? | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
Everybody you talk to about the problem of the price of milk, | 0:27:36 | 0:27:39 | |
they're interested in what we're saying. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:41 | |
-Yeah. -And they're all willing... | 0:27:41 | 0:27:42 | |
"Yeah, we would pay more for the milk." | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
It does make you feel better. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:46 | |
Today we brought the cow to the consumer and what we found out | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
was the consumer is more than willing to pay | 0:27:53 | 0:27:56 | |
that little bit extra for milk. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
The dairy farmers are not in a good place, | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
they are not very happy with the price, | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
so this is a problem. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:05 | |
There's a problem in the middle and that's what I'm going to do next - | 0:28:05 | 0:28:09 | |
is find out what's going on. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:11 | |
Next time I find out how the UK's biggest supermarket | 0:28:15 | 0:28:19 | |
sources its milk. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
Actually, every time you do buy our milk, | 0:28:21 | 0:28:23 | |
that money is going back to the farmer. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:25 | |
I see milk production on a massive scale. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:28 | |
The quantity is seriously mind-blowing. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:31 | |
And I visit some of the biggest dairy farms around. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:34 | |
This is milking in the 21st century. | 0:28:34 | 0:28:37 |