The government’s no-deal Brexit plans to impose import tariffs on cheese will fail to protect British milk producers’ livelihoods, Dairy UK has warned.

If the UK leaves Europe without a deal by 31 October, about 18% of total dairy imports will attract a temporary tariff to try to protect our market. For cheese, the rate would be set at about €214/t (£190/t).

But Dairy UK, representing milk processors, has branded the proposal “inadequate”.

Speaking at the organisation’s annual dinner, vice-chairman Ash Amirahmadi called on the government to rethink its policy.

Mr Amirahmadi told delegates that Dairy UK had commissioned an independent report on the potential effect of a no-deal Brexit on milk products.

“It showed there would be a massive shock to raw milk prices if the dairy sector faced WTO tariffs going out and zero tariffs coming in,” said Mr Amirahmadi.

He added that the report findings were shared with the government.

“We were pleased the government recognised tariffs were necessary. However, the level chosen for cheddar cheese is not sufficient to avoid volatility and potentially the loss of productive capacity in this sector,” Mr Amirahmadi warned.

Times are tough for small dairy farmers in the West and the latest figures show exactly what effect that is having on them.

Since 2002 nearly 40% of dairy farms in Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire have closed. That is just under 700 farms.

One reason is that smaller farms are being replaced by much bigger ones.

In the same time period the average size of a dairy herd in England has gone up from 77 to 110, something that has had a huge impact on farming communities.

“Dairy farmers are being pushed to the brink by the latest cuts to the price they are paid for their milk, farming leaders warned as more than 2,500 farmers gathered in London to protest against the reductions.

The farmers are angry at the latest round of cuts of up to 2p per litre, which come on top of similar cuts in the spring, recently announced by major milk processors.

They say the cuts will force many farmers out of business, pushing up the price of milk for consumers in the long term.

At a summit in Westminster, National Farmers’ Union deputy president Meurig Raymond issued a stark warning that dairy farmers “have been pushed to the brink” by the latest cuts.

He told the farmers and supply chain representatives that someone had thought the previous round of cuts had not been enough, and that the farmers could take more reductions.

But he said: “These latest cuts are the feed bills, the wages, the housekeeping and will take us well into loss-making territory, with many farmers losing up to 6p per litre.”

We live in a perverse world where people who rely on farming to make a living are having to leave the land and people who have done well in other business endeavours want to buy farms as a hobby.

If key agricutlural sectors begin to lose their economic function on the basis of issues like 4p off a litre of milk (how may people drinking the stuff are that price sensitive?!!!) then we will soon find ourselves in a very tricky and socially very divisive debate about just what rural England is for.