DAIRY CO-OP First Milk has confirmed that its milk price will remain static through March, then increase by one pence per litre from April 1.

This rise will be applied through a 0.5ppl increase in constituent payments, with a further 0.5ppl coming from the introduction of the previously announced 'regenerative farming bonu's, which is payable to all members that have completed their regenerative farming plans.

This will take the member milk price for April 2022 to 35.75ppl on a manufacturing standard litre basis, including the member premium and regenerative farming bonus.

Read more: First Milk announces 34ppl January milk price

Farmer director and vice-chairman, Robert Craig, said: “We know that our members face considerable inflationary cost pressure and we’ve been focused on delivering milk price increases to help address this. Since December this has amounted to an additional 3.75ppl, taking our current milk price to 34.75ppl for March on a manufacturing standard litre.

“We are pleased to announce a further 1.0ppl increase for April, including the important recognition of our commitment to regenerative farming principles with the introduction of our regenerative farming bonus. We will continue to work to return additional money to our members through the milk price in the months ahead to help mitigate the impact of increased costs.”