MORE milk price cuts expected in this month will "shatter industry confidence," says the NFU.

The latest downturn in the milk price could see some dairy farmers being paid close to the damaging levels of 2000 when prices slumped as low as 14.61 pence per litre.

It was the year 2000 when farmers from South Lakeland instigated the Fair Share of the Bottle march which was widely supported as it travelled the length of country and culminated in a house of commons meeting with Nick Brown, then agriculture minister.

Steve Dunning, deputy county NFU chairman said: " News of these further milk price cuts will devastate producers, especially as last year they had begun to rebuild some of the confidence that had been lost after three years of declining incomes."

The strength of Sterling and declining world commodity markets are both factors in the price slump.

Mr Dunning said that while these factors were outside of farmers' control, their attempts to build marketing coops to insulate themselves from such variables had been thwarted by the Government's Office of Fair Trading and argued that British dairy farmers should be free to build large continental style cooperatives.

l The NFU is calling for the Gov-ernment to pay the industry

£51 million of agrimonetary compensation available to help the industry cope with currency fluctuations.

The aid is in danger of being lost if the Government does not claim it from the EU by the end of April.