Some British dairy farmers have been forced to throw away tens of thousands of liters of milk due to rising prices, labor shortages and an acute shortage of truck drivers, Reuters reported.
The shortage of workers since Brexit has been exacerbated by the COVID crisis, which has wreaked havoc on supply chains for all kinds of goods, from fuel and pork to poultry and bottled water.
A fourth-generation dairy farmer from Central England has been forced to throw away 40,000 liters of milk in the last two months because the drivers who had to take it never arrived.
“It’s devastating. It’s emotionally draining, after you’ve made the milk, to have to pull the cap at the end of the day and let it run out,” says the farmer.
The UK produced 15.3 billion liters of milk last year and supplies as a whole are not yet under threat. However, the destruction of milk shows the extent to which labor problems are straining supply chains in the country.