DAIRY?FARMERS?yesterday breathed a sigh of relief as an agreement was reached between them and officials at Pine Hill Dairy (PHD)?to keep the intake of milk from dairy farms at current levels. However, this agreement is only for the month of January.
Both parties will be looking to Government to do something to “buffer” the industry, failing which PHD?has made it clear that it would have no choice but to further reduce the quota, a move that would ruin many of the farmers.
The agreement was made yesterday at a meeting comprising PHD officials and a committee of farmers’ representatives headed by Annette Beckett and including Brian Allan, president of the Barbados Dairy and Beef Producers’ Association; chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society, James Paul; and dairy farmers Barry Bishop and MacDonald Stevenson.
Last week dairy farmers were up in arms after receiving letters from PHD advising that milk quotas were to be cut by a further 15 to 18 per cent from today, following last August’s reduction by 25 per cent. (MB)
