By Mark Casci Both Arla Foods UK and Robert Wiseman Dairies will raise the money they pay to their members at the farmgate, with Arla's rise kicking in from Monday and Robert Wiseman's from next month.The increases come after the dairy sector has endured a challenging period, with the costs for fuel, fertilizer and feed all hitting profit margins.While the increase has been welcome by farmers, industry leaders say there is still a long way to go and that further rises will be necessary to help mitigate increasing overheads.Gwyn Jones, dairy board chairman of the National Farmers' Union, said: "Farmers have been calling for price increases to cover costs and allow for reinvestment for months and we are finally starting to get a response."Announcements from Tesco, Milk Link and Wiseman are encouraging signals that the industry is moving in the right direction away from the commodity pricing that was so much the scourge of the industry in the past and towards much more structured, colla

THE NFU has welcomed Robert Wiseman Dairies' decision to increase milk prices by 1p per litre from November.

ONE of the UK's leading dairies has had to raise prices to offset rising costs. Robert Wiseman Dairies said weakening bulk cream prices, a delay in implementing a price increase, rising oil-related costs and substantial increases in utility costs had pushed up its overheads.

By Peter Harrison A MULTI-million-pound, state-of- the-art dairy has been opened in Somerset, providing nearly 10 per cent of the nation's milk. Already the Robert Wiseman Dairies facility at Bridgwater is producing four million litres of milk each week.

SOARING fuel and packaging prices are heaping pressure on supermarket milk supplier Robert Wiseman Dairies, the company said today. The company has been forced to offset the rising bill for diesel, gas, electricity and milk cartons by hiking customer prices.