Local dairy farmers blockade the Co-op

You may recall that out of all the supermarkets that I used to frequent before the ban came into force on January 1st, my local branch of the Co-op, in Hasland, was the one I found the hardest to give up. Within walking distance of my house, it was a place I popped into on an almost daily basis for a pint of milk or loaf of bread.

I was also under the impression that the Co-op was one of the better supermarkets in terms of ethics, with its very public support of the Fairtrade movement (it was the first supermarket to launch a Fairtrade certified own brand product) and a leader in sustainability with its own windfarms. It also makes sure that all its eggs and much of its chicken is free range. It is repeatedly referred to as one of the UK's greenest supermarkets, and indeed, Ethical Consumer rates the Co-op as the UK's most ethical supermarket.

However, it appears that not everyone is impressed with the Co-op's policies, and a group of Derbyshire farmers have accused the supermarket of being less-than fair when it comes to trade.

This week a group of angry dairy workers called Farmers for Action have been blockading a Co-op distribution centre. About 70 protestors blocked the centre, in Alfreton, Derbyshire, for several hours on Wednesday night.

Farmer Paul Rowbottom, who is the local co-ordinator for the campaign group, told one of our reporters that the Co-op is paying farmers so little for their milk that they are currently making a loss of 2p for every litre they make.

He said milk was costing farmers 33.5p per litre to produce, but being bought by the Co-op for 31.85p per litre.

But a spokeswoman for the Co-operative food group told the Derby Telegraph that the supermarket was "one of the UK's biggest supporters of British farmers".

As as I was sat in the newsroom reading through the story for today's paper on my late shift, I felt rather vindicated that I took the decision four months ago to include my small local Co-op branch in my supermarket boycott.

But the plot thickens. You will recall that my partner Neil (while being incredibly supportive of my challenge) is under no obligation to avoid the supermarkets himself. And he does still pop into the Co-op in Hasland on occasion.

Subsequently there have been several times lately where we have had two pints of milk on the go in our house - one bought by Neil at the Co-op and one bought by me from a farm shop or similar. We don't do this deliberately, but sometimes Neil will come home with a pint of Co-op milk and I will then go elsewhere to buy myself an alternative.

He thinks I'm a bit bonkers for doing this, but up until recently I actually only drank soya milk because I didn't believe in some of the practices behind the mass dairy industry. However, since starting this challenge and learning about places like Our Cow Molly, in Sheffield, and Woodthorpe Grange, in Ashover, I've relaxed my approach and now quite enjoy drinking the odd bit of cow's milk again - as well as butter and cheese. But I will not touch supermarket milk because I'm not sure quite where it's come from.

I keep telling Neil off for buying the supermarket milk, and now I've got an even better reason. So perhaps he'll think twice before heading round the corner to the Co-op and start buying more ethical milk instead?