A DETAILED explanation is needed as to why milk prices rocket between leaving farms and arriving on the shelves.
Farmers don’t, on the surface, seem to be paid enough.
Further than that, producers in all the farming sectors appear to be on the receiving end of prices which have taken little or no account of rising input costs.
It’s a conundrum which is exercising a great many minds in the industry, where more and more people are going out of business or fighting a hard battle to keep going.
Agriculture is undoubtedly definitely going through a process of change and farmers are now much more willing to consider things other than beef, sheep and dairy.
The ice cream business set up by Jeremy and Louise Holmes, reported alongside this column, is one such example of the new direction being taken by those who work the land.
They are among the new generation who fully realise the need to branch out with fresh ideas and the couple deserve every support.
But we do need to examine the future of agriculture with more urgency than it appears to be at the moment.
Land being abandoned or ploughed over by disillusioned or bankrupt farmers is grave news when there is a global hunger crisis.
