Crude oil prices are at a six-year low. Why? Because surplus is far outstripping demand.

Fifty per cent of graduates are finishing up in lower-paid jobs. Why? Because there are too many graduates chasing the higher paid jobs.

Farmers say that milk prices aren’t high enough. Why? Because they are producing a product in volume when there is no market for it (so says David Handley, of Farmers for Action). And that means controlling supply.

But it’s not all bad news, is it? A dairy herd dispersal sale in Dorset recently saw a top price of 3,500gns (twice) and another ten bids were in excess of 2,000gns. Why would members of an industry in crisis pay this kind of money?

A dairy farm in Ilminster is aiming to increase production per animal from 8,500 litres to 10,000 litres. So it can’t all be bad, can it?

Set against all the doom and gloom (due to over-supply), farmland values have outperformed central London property and the FTSE 100 over the past decade. Arable land prices have risen 228 percent in ten years, to an average of £12,500 per acre.

The general public also contributes to farmers’ subsidies, which are quite substantial. And what price is red diesel per litre?

It seems the only way to solve the current ‘crisis’ is to control supply.

A. Adamson

Morecambe