FARMERS in West Devon and the National Farmers’ Union have welcomed the launch of a new brand of milk that pays more money straight to British farmers.

Supermarket chain Morrisons has launched a new ‘Milk for Farmers’ brand. Shoppers now have the opportunity to choose between standard milk at a competitive market price — 89 pence for four pints — or the Milk for Farmers brand at £1.12 for four pints.

Stores have also begun selling Milk for Farmers cheddar cheese, where 34 pence from every pack sold will go directly back to the farmers who supplied the milk to make the cheese.

The move has been welcomed by farmers across the area as well as the National Farmers’ Union.

NFU dairy board chairman Rob Harrison said the product was a welcome first step.

‘Shoppers have been telling us, as well as independent studies, that they are willing to pay more for milk and today’s announcement from Morrisons will enable them to do just that.

‘As a major retailer Morrisons needs to take more responsibility for the sales of their own label milk and dairy products to ensure that farmers are receiving a fair price and that they are responsibly sourced. Although Morrisons have said that they will make no further cuts to the supply chain, the dairy industry has now faced more than 15 months of continual price decreases and the small amount of action seen today has taken far too long to appear, we must see more done to stop farmers from bearing the brunt of extreme volatility.

‘Now is the time to back British farming and we need to see customers choosing to spend just a few pence extra on milk in order to ensure this nutritious, high quality British produce stays on the shelves for years to come.’

The store is the first UK retailer to offer such a product. A recent Mintel study found that half of shoppers were willing to pay more for milk in order to support dairy farmers.

Morrisons’ corporate services director Martyn Jones said: ‘When surveyed, many customers tell us that they are prepared to pay more for their milk to support British dairy farmers and this will be the first time that they’ll be given the opportunity to do exactly that.

‘We will be giving Milk for Farmers our full support and the sales will show whether customers in our supermarkets are prepared to pay more.’