Dairy protests continue across Northern Ireland

Several farmer protests have occurred throughout NI in the past week against falling prices for commodities across many farming sectors.

Last Thursday (30 July) protesters gathered in Coleraine with about 30 tractors and stayed until 2am, managing to stop a Dale Farm lorry and several other vehicles from making deliveries to a Tesco store.

On Friday night in Strabane, protesters lifted milk off shelves and into trolleys to take them to the checkout before deciding to leave the store. Approximately 30 tractors blocked off sections of the car park and a delivery gate before the protest ended at about 10pm.

On Monday evening of this week, milk was also removed from refrigerators in Enniskillen and at a smaller protest in Banbridge. The demonstration has been called “the #MilkTrolleyChallenge” on social media.

Again, on Monday night, 50 protesters in 15 tractors managed to block a Dale Farm lorry from making deliveries to a Tesco store in Coleraine. The protesters made their way to Sainsbury’s and Asda stores earlier but opted not to remove milk, wary of bad press and annoying customers.

Organised locally

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Co Down dairy farmer James Stewart said: “All the protests have been organised locally by farmers in their own towns; it is up to individual groups when they want to go out to protest.”

The demonstrations have received mixed reaction, with many in the industry pointing out that 85% of milk is exported from NI, so liquid milk sales in supermarkets have little effect on farmgate prices.

One protestor said in Coleraine on Monday: “We are here to highlight the problems we face in the industry. The supermarkets are not all to blame, but they are devaluing our product by low prices and making increased profit from the low wholesale prices they pay.”

Protesters have tried not to annoy supermarket customers, but this has at times proved difficult due to the size of some crowds and the tractors that are involved slowing traffic around shops.

Generally, most customers seem to be supportive and sympathetic to farmers receiving low farmgate prices. One shopper said: “It is unfair to farmers that they are being squeezed while supermarkets manage to make big profits.”