Retailers have been urged to fully support the Red Tractor brand on milk, cheese and other dairy products.
The plea from farm leaders, including NFU Scotland, comes ahead of a sector crisis meeting with farm ministers in London on Monday.
NFU Scotland’s milk committee chairman Graeme Kilpatrick said: “As dairy farmers, we have been overwhelmed by the reaction shown by the general public to the current crisis but to make the most of that support we need to make sure we give them the greatest opportunity to source, identify and buy UK milk and dairy produce.
“To achieve that, we are now asking that retailers go further with their commitment to the Red Tractor logo and immediately revamp the way their dairy category shelves are stocked and look.
“If retailers get their point-of-sale branding correct, utilise the Red Tractor image, and clearly identify and stock British and Scottish products then it will allow the consumer to immediately spot quality UK dairy produce and show their support at the tills.”
Earlier this week supermarket giant Asda announced plans to increase the price it pays farmers for their milk.
From Monday the retailer will pay 28p per litre for all of its liquid milk.
The increased price will be paid to processor Arla, which has been told it is expected to pass the increase on to farmer suppliers.
Arla’s current standard litre price is 23.01p a litre.
In recent weeks Asda has been the target of dairy farmer protests, including some in Scotland, where farmers have emptied the supermarket chain’s shelves of milk and then distributed the milk to the public for free as part of the ‘milk trolley challenge’.
In a statement, Asda said: “We have confirmed to our milk supplier, Arla, that we are increasing the price we pay per litre from Monday to a level that will assist our farmers during the current crisis.
“Asda’s origins are in dairy farming which is why we are acting in the best interests of our farmers and our customers by increasing the price we pay, introducing the Farmer’s Mark label and not passing on any of the costs to customers – our retail price stays the same.”
This follows Morrisons’ announcement that it plans to launch a new premium milk brand, which it claims will gaurantee a higher price for farmers.
The brand – Morrisons Milk for Farmers – will see four-pint bottle of milk sold for an extra 10p per litre, all of which will be given to the farmer suppliers.
It will be available in the autumn and stocked alongside the retailer’s standard own-brand milk.