Jamie McGrigor, Highlands & Islands MSP, and Councillor Donald Kelly (South Kintyre) are continuing to urge the Scottish Government to do everything possible to support dairy farmers in Kintyre, Gigha and Bute. They spoke out again after First Milk further reduced the price paid to its farmer members by 1 pence per litre from today, meaning most dairy farmers supplying First Milk in Kintyre, Gigha and Bute will be receiving between 14 and 16.5 pence per litre for their milk. Jamie has again written to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead on the subject, as well as outgoing First Milk chairman Sir James Paice. Jamie also flagged up the crisis facing dairy farmers at last week’s meeting of the Parliament’s European & External Affairs Committee.Speaking today Jamie said:“ First Milk’s most recent price cut has heaped yet more pressure on Argyll & Bute’s dairy farmers. Milk costs farmers around 30ppl to produce so many First Milk suppliers are facing financial losses which are massive and unsustainable for any farm business.“ As I said in the dairy debate in the Scottish Parliament earlier this year, the Scottish and UK governments must do absolutely everything they can to support our dairy farmers through the present crisis caused by these fluctuating milk prices, partly influenced by the current imbalance in international dairy supply and demand. We all need to back our hard-working, specialist dairy farmers and ensure the industry gets through the current challenges so that we retain the producers and processing infrastructure which, with the right marketing and export support, and by building on Scotland’s strong reputation for quality food, has the potential in the future to be an area of growth for our rural economy.”Councillor Donald Kelly said:“ The dairy sector is vitally important to the economy of Campbeltown and Kintyre and I fully support our local dairy farmers. I welcome the additional investment planned to improve the Campbeltown creamery which is such an important processing facility. I agree with the NFUS that First Milk’s turnaround plan must deliver an uplift in the milk price before our dairy farmers are simply put out of business.”