December 31, 2008

UK milk production gap growing larger

Nearly 57 percent of UK's milk are produced by 3,862 dairy farmers, only a quarter of the total number of milk producers, indicating a growing output gap between small and large farms, according to figures from DairyCo.

Analysis shows that there are currently 84 farmers producing in excess of 4 million litres of milk, 703 producing 2-4 million litres, and 3,075 producing 1-2 million litres.

In contrast, in 2004-05, the number of farmers producing more than 1 million litres was over 3,650 and they accounted for 48 percent of total production.

Statistics also show that 43 percent of farmers, a total of 6,326, produce less than 500,000 litres per year, which accounts for 15 percent of production.