Hundreds of county milk producers have taken part in the campaign, launched this year to highlight the growing threat to the UK milk supply because of the poor price paid at the farm-gate.

So far, the campaign has revealed that farmers in the north west were underpaid by at least £55.6 million from October 2005 to September this year.

Nick Utting, the union’s north Cumbria group secretary, said: “There is little doubt that unless action is taken very soon milk production in this county will disappear altogether within the next few years, or at best shrink to the size of a few production units of factory proportions, which will not be good for anyone.

Source: Cumberland News