Call for legislation to ensure fair milk price for farmers

New laws forcing shops and supermarkets to give farmers a fair price for their milk will be a hot topic at a conference organised by Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan in Brussels.

Thousands of farmers descended on Brussels earlier this week to protest the big drops in farm incomes, especially because of plummeting milk prices.

A voluntary code of conduct put in place a few years ago is not working, European Commission officials admit, with producers being paid less than it takes them to produce milk, but the price to consumers remaining the same.