NFU and NFU Scotland Standard Contract

Published 16 November 2007

The NFU and NFU Scotland have today published (Friday 16th November) their new milk contract template.

The purpose of the contract is to:

• Bring greater clarity and simplicity to raw milk contracts, both in the way they are structured and drafted.
• Create fairer balance in the rights and obligations that are established by a contract between the producer and the purchaser.
• Be flexible. It is important to create a template that takes account of every single buying and selling situation in the industry. Therefore the contract must be flexible and adaptable.
• Help producers understand raw milk contracts and suggest ways in which they can be improved.

The contract is designed to bring greater fairness to the relationships between producers and purchasers. This is aided by including schedules which deal with pricing agreements, sampling/testing methods and milk quality requirements.

It is anticipated that this contract will spark debate about how contracts and relationships between buyers and sellers could operate. The hope is this could lead to positive changes in raw milk contracts, helping producers to scrutinise the terms and conditions of contracts they are signing.