News

May 13, 2009

Dairy Is Turning Sour

Sally White

There is trouble in Europe’s dairies. This looks like being another summer of militant action by farmers on the continent, and in the UK they are likely to vote with their feet and leave the sector. The reason is yet another cut in the price of milk at a time when dairy product sales are falling and costs are rising. Among factors blamed by farming associations for their declining markets are US exports and quotas that are too high.

The European Union has introduced export aid measures and price intervention to help the farmers. Currently the EU Agriculture Commission Mariann Fischer Boel is refusing to discuss any more radical changes, saying: “The problem we are facing today is not the result of increased production in the EU, but rather the combination of increased production in a number of third countries… and a decreasing demand in the EU and on world markets.”

German farmers are threatening to strike. The Federation...