Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support she is giving to dairy farmers who are receiving less for their milk products than the cost of production; and if she will make a statement.

The European Commission listened to our calls for urgent action at Agriculture Council on 7 September by responding with a comprehensive support package for EU farmers of €500million which will focus on i) addressing the cash-flow difficulties farmers are facing, ii) stabilising market, and iii) addressing the functioning of the food chain. We will be pushing the Commission to urgently present more details to flesh out these proposals and to deliver the support in a way that provides the best outcome for British farmers.

We have also set out a series of initiatives to help improve the resilience of the British dairy industry, by:

• Working with the food industry on more consistent labelling and branding of British dairy products.
• Work on our new commitment to encourage public bodies to buy British Using the Food is GREAT brand to showcase high quality British produce at home and overseas.

We have already introduced a fairer tax system for farmers, cut burdensome red tape, launched a £24million Growth programme to help rural businesses, including dairies, expand and diversify and opened 600 new export markets for dairy since 2010.