RE: A Dairy Dilemma: Supply and Demand Pressures

Interesting to see the increasing demand - I hadn't considered that side.

But the supply side of things is definitely an issue. I know quite a few farmers who are getting out of dairy, and the reasons they give are usually a combination of different degrees of three key issues;

• Supermarkets forcing long term contracts that pay below production cost for dairy and meat products.
• Offers from energy companies to buy land to use for renewable power - often at substantially above the going rate, but which take land out of agricultural production for good.
• Reduced government subsidies and increased taxation, particularly the new inheritance tax regime which is clearly intended to eliminate smaller farmers and pool agriculture into a few conglomerates owned by global corporations (i.e. political donors).