A third of dairy farms in Kent and Sussex have closed in five years

Farmers and their union representatives claim supermarkets and milk processors are exploiting farmers to make money at their expense.

In the last five years a third of the dairy farms in Kent and Sussex have gone out of business.

In 1997 there were 491 dairy farmers - but by 2002 that was down to 342, according to figures from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

'Crucified by low prices'

Stephen Howe, editor of Farmers' Weekly, said the "level of exploitation" of farmers was unacceptable.

He said: "At the moment supermarkets are selling milk at something like 49p per litre.

"Farmers are getting 16.5p to 17p per litre and they are selling milk to the supermarkets at that - which means a mark-up of 206% by the time it reaches the supermarket shelves," he said.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is calling for farmers to be paid an extra 2p per litre.

Mr Franklin said an extra 2p a litre could mean �20,000 a year more

William White, of the NFU South East, said: "The 2p a litre has got to come back to the farm - that's the essential thing at the moment.

"The industry is being crucified by low prices and pressure from processors to reduce those prices further.

"I think if it goes on too long we will see a decimation of the industry."

Stephen Franklin, who runs a dairy farm in Cuckfield, West Sussex, is paid an average of 17p per litre of milk produced by his herd of 150 cows.

He said: "At the moment the dairy companies seem to think we are immune to inflationary price increases, which we are not.

"All our costs are going up, as everything does every year, and yet we are being paid less and less for our end product."

Mr Franklin, whose father and grandfather were dairy farmers before him, said an increase of 2p a litre would mean a difference of �20,000 a year.