A four-man delegation from the Farmers’ Union of Wales led by its president will meet Welsh MPs at Westminster on Wednesday (July 15) to discuss the serious concerns of the Welsh dairy sector following the collapse of Dairy Farmers of Britain (DFB).
Mr Vaughan will be joined by the union’s milk committee chairman, Anglesey dairy farmer Eifion Huws, who, as a DFB member, has lost tens of thousands of pounds after the farmers’ cooperative suddenly went into receivership.
Together with FUW policy director Nick Fenwick and Powys dairy farmer Bryan Jones, they will attend separate meetings organised by Anglesey’s Labour MP Albert Owen and shadow Welsh minister and Clwyd West MP David Jones.
Mr Owen has already visited Mr Huws’s farm for a first-hand overview of the effects of DFB’s collapse on the Welsh dairy sector and David Jones has questioned Commons leader Harriet Harman and Defra minister Hilary Benn about the circumstances surrounding the co-operative’s crash.
Around 1,800 farmers throughout Wales and Northern England have lost millions of pounds as a consequence of DFB’s receivership, both in terms of lost revenue and capital. Now they have been warned by the receivers that they may be liable on guarantees they signed when they joined the group.
Mr Vaughan said today: "DFB’s collapse has been disastrous for numerous people involved in the Welsh dairy industry who are now struggling to remain in business.
"Their plight just keeps getting worse especially after the news that the receiver may pursue them on their guarantees.
"We will be urging the MPs to demand that the Government carries out a full inquiry into all the reasons for DFB’s collapse."