SOUTH Lakeland dairy farmers have vowed to continue their fight for fairer milk prices in the wake of protests at two Kendal supermarkets.

Local farmers say they are planning to take further action following Friday night's ‘Milk Trolley Challenge’ at the town’s Asda and Aldi stores.

The protest saw around 60 young farmers - and their families - from south Cumbria, North Yorkshire and North Lancashire gather to highlight the financial crisis they say they are facing.

The group cleared the shelves of milk and other dairy products and left them in trolleys around both stores.

They then returned to Asda to buy a carton of milk each and handed them out to members of the public outside the shop.

Many filmed the protest on mobile phones in order to spread the message, following similar protests across the UK over the past two weeks.

Reaction from members of the public was largely supportive, although some complained of ‘loud and inconsiderate’ behaviour.

Participants in Kendal’s Milk Trolley Challenge have confirmed that they are planning more action, but said it will likely involve talking to the public more and handing out leaflets.

“We’ve grabbed their attention, now it’s time to educate people a bit more,” said Settle farmer and demonstrator Craig Booth.

Kendal dairy farmer Chris Ladds, 22, told The Westmorland Gazette that slashed prices had left many in the industry facing financial ruin.

“It’s hard when you're getting paid 22p a litre and it costs 26p to produce - we're making a loss every day."

Following crisis talks with farming organisations, supermarket chain Morrisons announced on Tuesday that it will launch a new ‘Milk for Farmers’ brand.

It is expected to cost 10p more per litre than the retailer's other offerings, with the extra to be given to farmers within Arla, Britain's biggest milk co-operative.

Andrew Woodhouse, a straw manufacturer and agricultural supplier from Natland, called the move “a small victory, and the start of a long process.”

Co-ordinating Friday’s demonstrations, he said: “What we have here is the future of British farming and, if we don't look after it, there will be no future.

“No-one expects to become a millionaire as a dairy farmer but you've at least got to make a living

“I would say that 80 per cent of my customers are losing money every day, and the other 20 per cent are barely breaking even.”

Carl Hudspith, communications officer for NFU North West, said the Milk Trolley Challenge had been “brilliant in starting a conversation about milk prices.”

“The visual impact of shelves without milk is very striking and we support that, but we don’t want to see families not being able to get what they need.”

Mr Hudspith said: “Supermarkets must stop using milk as a loss leader in what is now a very bloody supermarket war.

“What we’re looking for is a more sustainable and transparent industry.

“With aligned contractors like Tesco, M&S and Sainsburys you can look at the list of production, but Asda, Morrisons and the discounters are non-aligned, so there’s no transparency within the chain and no control over what processors pay their farmers.

“We’re calling for better contracts and better relationships between supermarkets, farmers and processors.

“We accept that it’s going to be volatile, but that volatility is here to stay so as an industry we need to stick together to ride it out.

“Retailers need to look at the long-term future, and the damning reality is that if they don’t, we will lose a lot of dairy farmers over the next few months.”

North West retailer Booths also released figures this week showing they paid farmers more than their supermarket rivals, although Mr Hudspith of the NFU said it was ‘slightly unfair’ to compare Booths to larger stores.

“What they are doing is great but you can’t put them in the same bracket as bigger supermarkets because the volume isn’t there.”

Morrisons’ corporate services director Martyn Jones said: “We recognise that the current market for liquid milk is impacting on hard working dairy farmers and their families.

“We want to reassure the industry that the retail price we charge for Morrisons milk reflects the highly competitive retail market. It is not linked to the price we pay our milk suppliers.

“We want to offer practical help by launching a range of four-pint milk at a retail premium of 10p per litre, all of which will be passed back directly to dairy farmers.”

A spokesperson for Aldi said: “We purchase milk from three processors in the UK and do not buy directly from farmers. The price we pay from milk has remained consistently above the farm gate price and we have not reduced the amount we pay our processors.

“It is important to note that the retail price of our milk is not linked in any way to the price we pay processors. Any reduction in the retail price is absorbed by Aldi.”

Asda have not responded to the Gazette’s request for a comment.