A SCHOOL farm near Wythall could close because of plummeting milk prices.
Charity-run Mount Pleasant School Farm is losing vital funds to teach inner-city children about farming and the countryside due to the crisis in the dairy industry.
The centre, which is also a working dairy farm, is run by the Worgan Trust which uses the sale of milk to help fund education.
But as milk sales drop to under £1 for 2 litres it means less money is being pumped back into the site at Forhill.
It follows the news farmers are receiving the lowest price for milk since 2007, with it dropping to less than the cost of bottled water.
Tenant farmers Peter Charles, said: “We are making significant losses and there is not enough money coming in to pay the bills.
“It can’t carry on as it is, we can’t be in a situation where every two years we are left in a loss making situation. It has either got to be viable and steady viable rather than just a profit one year in three.”
Meurig Raymond, president of the National Farmers’ Union, said he would take the school’s message to the highest level and would stress the importance of the dairy farm and the site’s educational value.
He added the price of milk would improve with demand rising by two to three per cent per a year.
