Despite the deployment of military officers and the implementation of emergency visas, milk farmers still suffer from the lack of Heavy Goods Vehicle drivers. On top of the supply chain issue, the price of milk keeps getting higher and farmworkers are missing.

       The problem for one fourth-generation farmer, who owns a Holstein Friesian herd in central England, was so bad he was forced to dump 40,000 litres of milk in the past two months as no driver turned up to collect it.

       "It's cutting, it's emotionally draining when you're producing milk and at the end of the day you have to pull the plug and it has to go," the farmer, who chose to remain nameless, told Reuters.

       In their 45-year career, the farmer only had to dump milk two or three times before due to bad weather.

       But this summer, they had to destroy four milk loads because of collection shortages.

       Consumers should not expect their supermarkets to run out of milk since the country produced 15.3 billion litres of milk last year despite Covid.

       The only solution for farmers apart from watching the milk going to waste is to sell it for half the price to distress milk services like the one Rob Huntbatch runs in Cheshire.

       These companies buy milk at lower prices and transport it to other outlets in an effort to stop it from being dumped.

       Mr Huntbatch, 38, rescues milk for half its normal price and turns it into curd.

       READ MORE: HGV driver shortage crisis has 'been in the US for some time -expert

       He typically has two hours from when a farmer calls him to pick up the milk before it is dumped.

       In Cheshire alone, Huntbatch saved 160,000 litres of milk in September – an increase of 100,000 litres from the previous month – but was still unable to save 80,000 litres.

       “This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Huntbatch told Reuters.

       “I think it will get worse.

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       “In the wintertime, if there’s snow, drivers get slowed down, and it’s going to make even more of an impact.”

       Peter Alvis, chairman of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, has raised the alarm regarding dairy farmers.

       “I don't think things with global supply chains have settled down again after the pandemic, and the shortage of HGV drivers is having quite a large impact.”

       Henry Bloxham, a 61-year old Staffordshire dairy farmer who owns 250 cows, says his fertiliser prices have also risen by 150% in three weeks and fuel increased by 10p a litre in the last week alone.

       If costs continue at current levels, he says he will consider leaving the industry by next April.

       “If we have to keep paying these costs, you will see a mass exodus of dairy farmers next summer,” he told Reuters.