A survey by NFU Cymru found 80% of shoppers in mid Wales did not know the price of a pint of milk. We asked people in Aberystwyth. More details

The Farmers' Union of Wales said on Tuesday that low prices threatened to force dairy farmers out of business.

Farmers involved in milk production in Wales have dropped by 30% since 1994, according to Welsh assembly figures.

A survey by NFU Cymru found while many shoppers did not know the price of a pint of milk, there was public support for the position of dairy farmers.

The union published the survey at the opening of the Welsh Dairy Show in Carmarthen, highlighting that dairy farmers received 10p out of 35p per pint.

It found that 80% of shoppers questioned in Brecon could not give the price of milk in stores, but more than half were sympathetic to milk producers for the prices they were receiving from supermarkets.

Fair price

Dai Davies, NFU Cymru vice president, said: "These research results are reassuring to me as a dairy farmer as they go some way to show the consumer is becoming more focused on the unfair profits made by supermarkets and the struggle of the farmers to get a fair price for their product."

FUW president Gareth Vaughan blamed the decrease in number of dairy farmers on the "overwhelming" power of supermarkets to dictate prices.

Mr Vaughan said the drop in dairy farmers in Wales from 5,363 in 1994 to 3,658 last year was "shocking".

He said he was "deeply concerned" that hundreds more would be forced out of milk production because of low prices at the farm gate.

"It's a disgrace that so many of our farmers are being paid less than the cost of production for their milk - this simply cannot go on," he said.

Dairy farmers must be paid a fair price for their produce," he added.

Mr Vaughan, whose comments mark the beginning of the Welsh Diary show in Carmarthen, also argued that the milk market in Wales should be protected from foreign imports.