FOLLOWING REPORTS that Wiseman's Dairies are to reduce the amount that they pay dairy farmers for milk, Green MSP Mark Ruskell has stressed the need for a tougher regulation of the supply chain.

Scottish dairy farms are already struggling to survive because farmers are often paid below the cost of production for liquid milk. Hundreds of dairy farms have closed in recent years. According to the National Farmers' Union for Scotland, a cut of nearly one pence will take effect from 1 August, despite Wiseman's healthy profits.

Mark Ruskell, Green speaker on the environment said, "I'm sure that most consumers would be horrified to hear that companies are again cutting payments to farmers whilst reaping healthy profits, without so much as a second thought for producers.

" The long-term future of the industry will not be secured if farms keep closing and production of such a basic, perishable foodstuff becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Lib Dem minister, Ross Finnie recently indicated he may support measures other than the notoriously ineffective Code of Practice - but he needs to go much further than offering words alone if we are to see Scottish farmers dealt a fair hand."