Supermarket chain Morrisons has been forced to review policy on pay for its farmers in the wake of the milk crisis, it has been announced today.
After an attack on its premium rate of one pence paid per litre above the rate by price processors Dairy Crest and Arla, the grocer has decided to revise the current model in favour of a fairer system.
This is a distinct a turnaround in strategy as previously the value grocer remained unmoved in its decision to amend the wages its farmers receive.
Morrisons was met with criticism for allegedly not taking into account hidden costs farmer‘s pay such as production which have a direct impact on their salary.
Meanwhile, ‘big four‘ rivals Tesco and Sainsbury‘s pay a price which factors in these outgoings, with the latter now providing information labels on its milk bottles.
Yesterday, property firm CBRE reported that the grocery market as a whole is steadily growing to 57 per cent in five years, while figures from Kantar Worldpanel today reveal that discount supermarkets are increasing their market share due to a decrease in disposal income for consumers.
Commenting on the decision to review the rate, a Morrisons spokesperson said: “We completely understand that there is a issue here and we are looking at it to see whether there are other models that we can use that better support farmers.
“For Morrisons any solution has to support the whole industry.
“That‘s why we pay a 1 pence per litre premium to our processors which is shared across all farmers without a dedicated contract.”
“We don‘t engage in the postcode lottery where a few farmers are paid more than the rest.”
