Early arrival for dairy farmer payments
The UK secured a support package of £26.6 million from the European Commission in September.
EU support payments to help struggling dairy farmers in the UK have started arriving in bank accounts - two weeks ahead of schedule.
Farming minister George Eustice has announced that the first payments have been made to three-quarters of those eligible, which equates to more than 10,000 farmers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Payments will continue throughout November and December.
The UK secured a support package of £26.6 million from the European Commission in September. It is the third largest support offering among all member states. The emergency funding has been given to help dairy farmers affected by the current volatility in milk prices.
Mr Eustice said: "It’s been a tough year for dairy farmers grappling with low prices for the milk they produce. We fought for, and secured, one of the largest support packages amongst EU countries and the RPA has pulled out all the stops to start making these important payments two weeks earlier than planned.
"I hope these payments will now provide some much needed relief for dairy farmers across the UK."
Alongside this support, the farming minister said work is ongoing to improve the long-term resilience of the industry - which includes the introduction of a fairer tax system, pushing for better labelling of British dairy products and setting up future markets for dairy.
The government is also said to be working to open up new export markets: "Only last week, dairy businesses from across the UK were out in Shanghai exhibiting their wares as part of the Secretary of State’s trade mission to promote Britain’s high-quality dairy produce to the Chinese," Mr Eustice added.
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