First Milk has just cut its price to farmers by 1.25pence per litre of milk – although there is a serious shortage of milk production in the UK, aggravated locally in Kintyre by the dispersal of its biggest dairy herd at Drumore. This has been running down over the last few months and has now shut down with most of its stock gone to Galloway.

John Smith, Chair of the Kintyre National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS) says that the Drumore herd was capable of producing well over a million litres. He points out that First Milk are still recruiting suppliers but, with good reason, suggests that in the circmstances they would be better advised to pay better attention to those they already have.

For Argyll published a news item yesterday (7th January 2009) about Rural Affairs Minister Richard Lochhead’s address to the Oxford Farming Conference. He rightly stressed the crucial role into the future of food security. Here in Argyll is a live issue of food security, right on the doorstep.