Without voluntary volume reduction, there is no way forward! At the Salon International de l’Agriculture (SIA) in Paris, EMB President Kjartan Poulsen and EMB Vice-President Boris Gondouin issued a strong warning about the dramatic escalation of the situation on the European milk market. Many farms are once again operating far below cost coverage and are increasingly facing an existential threat. This is not a sustainable model for Europe’s milk production.

The Swiss dairy market is facing its umpteenth structural crisis due to an increase in milk production following favourable weather conditions. The result: Switzerland reported a surplus of 5% in September, which increased to 10% by the end of 2025.

The situation is so dire that processors are hardly able to keep up with the surplus milk and that, in fact, part of this overproduction had to be disposed off in biogas facilities. Since autumn 2025, the interbranch organisation IP Lait and the Federation of Swiss Dairy Farmers (FPSL) has called for production reduction, but in vain. To force a decrease, IP Lait asked buyers in mid-January to pay even less for C-segment milk as compared to their current prices. IP Lait is desperate and does not know how to reign in this overproduction.

In Switzerland, the milk price is divided into three categories or segments:

A-segment milk, mainly for the Swiss market, is the ‘best’ paid milk with an indicative price that has just dropped to 78 centimes. ‘Indicative’ because it is never actually obtained.

B-segment milk, mainly for export-oriented milk products. In February 2026, the indicative price for B-segment milk was 53 centimes.

C-segment milk is used to relieve the market and is mainly transformed into butter and milk powder for export on the world market. Indicative price in January 2026: 23.6 centimes. Switzerland has not had C-segment milk since late 2018. IP Lait is asking buyers to pay even less for the C-segment milk. As of February, the largest buyer of Swiss milk will pay 20 centimes for this milk.

How did we get here? This overproduction is the result of nothing other than very bad management by IP Lait and Uniterre calls for a complete overhaul, with specifically:

• Fair prices that cover production costs with a price floor system, including priority for A-segment milk and for the first 180,000 kilos per farm, coupled with supply management. Some are turned off by reopening these discussions, but the writing is on the wall: since the end of milk quotas in Switzerland in 2009, production has increased and the milk price is in a constant downward spiral. The current crisis is further proof: supply management is indispensable. It is unrealistic to believe that the invisible hand of the market can fix everything. And if we manage to get cost-covering prices for producers, it will be much easier to reopen discussions about supply management.

• A ban on inward processing traffic during periods of overproduction: this customs regime allows agro-industry to import foreign goods (e.g. butter, milk powder) duty free or at highly reduced rates, for processing and subsequent re-export. Between 2019 and 2024, milk powder imports under these conditions skyrocketed, going from 1000 tonnes to almost 5000 tonnes; in addition, 2000 tonnes of butter were imported in 2024. This is an environmental aberration, given that Switzerland already produces surpluses, and even more so because agro-industry is subsidised by the Confederation through a dedicated fund used to buy Swiss raw materials in order to reduce its costs. Policymakers have, in fact, written to the Minister for Agriculture to call for an end to this practice.

Another ludicrous announcement: in the days before Christmas, IP Lait declared that it would lower the A-segment milk price from 82 to 78 centimes as of February 2026, due to a reduction in prices on the European market. We reacted immediately: this is a disingenuous argument given that A-segment milk is sold on the Swiss market; it does not affect butter and milk powder exports. Could it be that segmentation is simply a way to pass the buck, allowing processors and retailers to optimise their profits while producers bear the brunt?

As is always the case in a crisis, it is the farmers who pay the price. Why don’t we look at the salaries of managers and processors at IP Lait or FPSL? That’s apparently unthinkable. What is FPSL even doing with its annual budget of CHF 37 million – of which 23 million come from producer membership fees – and with its weight in the sector? It is frankly embarrassing. This inaction should lead us to ask why we pay these fees at all, and we should, at least temporarily, stop paying them.

In the meantime, and as urgent action to encourage producers to lower milk production, we need to implement a support fund, financed by the raw material price reduction fund or by the shamefully high FPSL budget. In this context, the mooh cooperative, a Swiss dairy farmer organisation (approx. 3600 farms), announced a bonus of 2 respectively 4 centimes per kg at the end of January for those who reduce their production to 95% and 90% compared to the same month of the previous year. In parallel, mooh also announced a milk price of 52 centimes in January 2026, followed by 50 centimes for February to May 2026. How are dairy farmers going to survive this mess?

Well, it is clearly time to act. To IP Lait and FPSL: stop sitting on your hands and introduce dairy market reforms at last. The solutions exist. To processors: stop being passive and opportunistic, stop bowing down and put up a real fight against the obscene pressure by retailers on prices. Because, in the long run, you will not have enough milk to keep your facilities going if too many producers go out of business, and our food security will be jeopardised. 

To policymakers: show some courage and stop looking away. Regulating this market is of vital importance. Thankfully, some politicians are waking up and we appreciate their efforts, but we still do not have enough support.

Berthe Darras, head of the Dairy Committee at Uniterre

After his Olympic qualification, Belgian skier Armand Marchant decided to chart his own course, off the beaten track. Instead of only working with traditional sporting sponsors, he decided to partner with Fairebel – a cooperative owned by Belgian farmers known for its Fair Milk products.

The European Milk Board asbl (EMB) strongly urges the European Commission and national governments to critically reassess the current developments surrounding the EU–Mercosur free trade agreement and to place the protection of farmers at the centre of their decisions.