Video: Farmers empty Morrisons milk aisles in price protest

Farmers have cleared the shelves of a Morrisons supermarket of milk in a protest over low prices.

Six farmers entered a store in Chipping Sodbury, near south Gloucestershire, and filled shopping trolleys up to the brim with four-pint cartons of milk.

At the start of the video, a female narrator explains: “We are here at Morrisons doing the milk trolley challenge.

See also: Farmers stage Morrisons milk price protest

“This is due to the unfair milk price. We are clearing the shelves. Morrisons, you have been milked.”

During the video, the manager approaches farmers and asks what is going on.

Farmers turn around and tell him: “We are doing this in protest over your milk prices.”

Once the trolleys are laden with milk cartons, the farmers leave the shopping aisle and make their ways towards the tills where they abandon the trolleys and leave the store.

The two-and-a-half-minute clip, which was added to Facebook by farm contractor Nick Thompson, has been shared hundreds of times on social media.

The authors urge fellow farmers to “take up the challenge”, adding: “Please make these go global… !”

Mr Thompson, 28, a member of Sodbury Vale Young Farmers’ Club (YFC), told Farmers Weekly how the idea for the protest came about.

“About 30 farmers aged from 18-60 got together on Monday night and decided we needed to do something to for the farming community.

“We decided to stack supermarket trolleys with milk because this would not inconvenience the public in the same ways that road blocks would. Also, it allows us to explain to them how supermarkets are paying farmers an unfair price for their milk.”

Two other supermarkets – a Lidl and a Tesco store in the same area – were targeted on the same night.

Mr Thompson said farmers would be tasked with nominating other farmers across the country – similar to the Ice Bucket Challenge – to carry out similar protests.

The clip has gone viral and been viewed more than 70,000, including in countries as far away as Australia and the US.

Morrisons and Aldi have both slashed the cost of two-pint cartons of own-label milk to 74p.

Darren Blackhurst, Morrisons’ group commercial director, said: “As a leading British retailer we are focused on delivering great value and we try to pass on lower prices to our customers wherever possible. 

“We do, however, recognise that due to reduced global demand, this has created an oversupply of British milk creating difficult conditions for many dairy farmers at present.”

Supermarkets have slashed milk prices over the past year, while maintaining that the price they pay farmers has not been affected.

However, the average UK milk farmgate price has fallen from 35p/litre to 24p/litre over the past 12 months.