When I used to negotiate milk prices for the dairy farmers in England and Wales, the liquid milk price was 27 pence per litre - roughly the same price as it is now. That was 20 years ago.rnHigh prices then were almost all down to my individual skill as a negotiator - all I had to help me was regulation, a Milk Marketing Scheme, and an arbitrator- oh, and a government that prioritised farmers.rnBack then, ministers really understood the importance of producing food from our own resources. They would have wished for even higher milk prices, but they had the European Commission squinting over their shoulders. This required them to impose a rigorous monitoring and inspection system.
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