AROUND 50 angry farmers and their tractors blockaded the Müller milk processing plant in Bridgwater in an ongoing row over falling milk prices.

Organised by the Farmers for Action group, the tractors were in place from the afternoon until the early hours of the morning as farmers showed their anger.

The group claims that farmers receive 18.6p for every litre of milk they produce, yet it costs them 28p to produce a litre.

Farmers for Action stressed that the protest was a peaceful one, but lorries were blocked from leaving the plant meaning that deliveries from Müller were delayed.

The blockade at the Bridgwater plant follows similar protests held at Müller processing plants throughout the day.

James Hole, from Farmers for Action, said: “It was a good night, there were around 50 people, it’s not as many as we wanted but we still managed to do the job and we were pleased with the outcome.

“We managed to have three blockades around the country and that was a good outcome.

“In the last 18 months there has been a inbalance globally in milk production, but in the past six weeks, milk has actually risen in value and it’s now time to see that come back to all dairy farmers.”

Following the protest, Müller issued a statement slamming the protestors, saying: “Disrupting a business with a track record for offering a competitive milk price to farmers and investing in the UK dairy industry makes no sense whatsoever.

“The organisers of this disruption are not suppliers and should not claim to represent the 1,900 farmers who do supply us.

“We will take whatever measures we can to protect our business.”

Ronald Kers, group chief executive, also wrote an open letter to suppliers, which stated: "We are confident that our supplying farmers are not the ones who are turning up at our dairies intent on illegally seeking to halt operations, as opposed to peaceful protesting which we have no issue with.

"It is a little ironic that some of our most vocal critics have been looking to join us as suppliers.

"We will do everything we can to maintain our milk collection service to you - but under these circumstances this cannot be guaranteed.

"I therefore want to alert you to the possibility of delayed or missed collections in advance and apologise if there is any inconvenience.

"We will of course take whatever means we can to protect our business from any disruption that could add cost or impact the service we provide to you, our customers and, therefore, our ultimate consumers."

However, Mr Hole hit back at Müller, said: "We don’t disagree with their statement, but we want them to stop using smoke and mirrors.

“Not all farmers are seeing an increase in what they’re getting for their milk, it’s largely just the main producers.

“Now that the markets are responding as well as they are, we need to see those returns.”

It is not yet known if there are any further protests planned by the group.

A spokesman for Müller UK & Ireland said:

Group CEO