FARMERS RICHARD AND WENDY HOAD say they are being forced out of their goat’s milk production business by a most unlikely competitor – Government.
They told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday that for the past few years they have been battling stiff competition from the Ministry of Agriculture after it started a goat farming programme at Greenland, St Andrew, which was supposed to be for research and developmental purposes only.
The Hoads, who operate Hoads Dairy Farm at Morgan Lewis also in St Andrew, charged that not only has the ministry been selling goat milk way below the market value – $8 for half-gallon compared to their retail price of $12.25 – but it has also infiltrated all of their major suppliers, leading to a drastic reduction in the purchasing of milk from Hoads Dairy Farm.
The Hoads said they were “giving away gallons of unsold milk to pig farmers” and also dumping it because their customers were taking less milk.
Read the full story in today’s SUNDAY?SUN.