ENGLISH tenant dairy farmers are being advised to oppose rent rises imposed by their landlords despite the fact they are now getting a better price for their milk.

There is a fear amongst tenants that landlords' agents will insist on higher rents because of increased milk revenues, brought about as a result of the Office of Fair Trading exposure of a conspiracy to cheat both suppliers and customers by some of the major supermarkets and major dairies.

But the Tenant Farmers' Association (TFA) is advising its members to resist this pressure.

Says TFA National Chairman Reg Haydon said "Whilst there has been an increase in prices paid to producers for their milk in recent months, these have been already swallowed up in increased costs: energy, fertiliser, labour and dairy replacements.

"Any landlord's agent worth his salt will be considering very carefully whether to pursue rent reviews on dairy holdings this spring and coming autumn. It must also be remembered that the recent improvement in prices comes after an extremely long spell where tenant farmers in the dairy sector were having to live off their limited capital".