APPENDIX 22
Letter to James Gray MP from Mr John Tuck
As a member of Milk Marque I am awaiting the publication
of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission report on the supply
of raw milk, with interest and some concern. I joined Milk Marque,
not because I had any thought of making quick profits, but because
I felt it was the best way I could secure a future for myself
and my son Stephen in dairy farming. Stephen graduated last summer
with a Degree in Agriculture from Nottingham University, and is
currently working on dairy farms in New Zealand gaining more experience.
Stephen and I believe that the "Collaborative Marketing Initiative"
launched by the Government in December is sensible, and that Milk
Marque is the type of farmer-owned business that this initiative
should encourage.
Currently Milk Marque is large, but certainly not
dominant in the marketing of raw milk in England and Wales. In
terms of the whole of the United Kingdom (which is the reference
of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission) it is small relative
to the whole market, or compared with other farmer-owned co-operatives.
Scare stories about Milk Marque being able to manipulate
milk prices if it is allowed to process its own milk should be
discounted. No organisation can afford to acquire and run processing
plant, pay over the market price for its raw materials and sell
to consumers in a competitive market. Those who oppose Milk Marque's
acquisition of processing capacity do so out of self interest
not conviction.
Please will you put these points forward in any discussions
you may have with fellow Members, and will you please insist that
any action that the Government takes in response to the Monopolies
and Mergers Commission report accords with the "Collaborative
Marketing Initiative".
26 March 1999
| 
