The Belgian Fairebel celebrates its 15-year anniversary this year. What began as an ambitious project is now a well-established success – thanks to the strong commitment of the participating farmers. “Farmers have created something special that is pioneering beyond the agricultural sector and above all, offers great benefits for everyone.”

The European Milk Board asbl (EMB) welcomes the new project between the German Fair Milk, Die faire Milch, and PENNY that has been officially presented today. In a new type of tripartite agreement, PENNY as the retailer, Die faire Milch as the supplier and producer cooperative Fair Food have formalised their joint effort to bring transparency and fairness to calculations and price setting in the value chain.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced her list of candidates for the new EU Commission. She would like to see Christophe Hansen as the new Commissioner for Agriculture, who would be substantially responsible for implementing the recommendations of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture. The most recent document of the Strategic Dialogue addresses key points, but important aspects for a successful sectoral transformation are still missing. The new EU Commissioner should absolutely take this into account when implementing the recommendations of the dialogue.

As a result of the farmers’ protests, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen felt obliged to make the following statement at the European Parliament Plenary when presenting her political priorities as a candidate for a second term of office: “No one should be forced to sell good food below production costs.” We shall keep a critical eye on how serious she will be about putting this into effect. But on the EU level, a more progressive mood is already obvious in terms of market policy, while Germany still has a long way to go to reach the point where prices cover costs.

In August and September 2024, MIG conducted two surveys among its members to evaluate the impact of the bluetongue disease on dairy farms in Wallonia. These surveys show that things are clearly getting worse, with a rapid spread of the disease, loss of livestock and a drop in milk production.

For a change, this time we are including a funny short story by Matthias Stührwoldt, who is well-known for his witty, lively tales of life down on the farm. This article, originally published in the “Bauernstimme” mouthpiece of the AbL, tells of a very special protest in Hamburg – with a cow named Dickybird!

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I received an e-mail asking whether I could possibly arrange to come to an election rally of the liberal FDP party on the Gänsemarkt square in Hamburg, to protest for the rights of dairy farmers – accompanied by one of my cows. I immediately thought of Dickybird, my favourite cow. Yes, I know, a farmer should love all his cows equally but, well, actually, truth be known, Dickybird is my favourite cow. Eleven years old, docile, placid, unflappable. So I agreed immediately. Yes, of course, we’ll go to Hamburg, Dickybird and I!

And so we contacted the city authorities in Hamburg to register our little protest rally. Oh dear. A cow in town? What about animal welfare? Is that appropriate for the species? Which species? City dwellers, or the cow? The wheels of bureaucracy creaked into motion. We were told it would take a few days to check our request. Then permission arrived at last, but it came with a few conditions. Among others, I would need to provide a certificate issued by the local veterinary office in Plön to confirm that Dickybird is free of any diseases. Woe betide that Dickybird could pass on anything contagious to all the other cows in downtown Hamburg!

I rang the veterinary office in Plön and explained my plan. The lady on the telephone reckoned she wasn’t really the right person, but she wrote everything down and promised to contact the veterinary office in Hamburg to find out exactly which diseases were involved in this case. And she said she’d ask the colleague responsible for these things whether there was anything else I needed to know about. So I said thank you very much, and then wondered what I’d set in motion.

Fifteen minutes later, the phone rang. It was the Plön town hall, I could see that from the number. Another lady this time, again quite friendly. She wanted to know who would be bringing the animal to Hamburg? Well, I’d be doing that. Ah, but the problem is, I’m not an approved animal transport business. “What?”, I asked. “Well”, she said, Hamburg is a good 65 kilometres away, and you have to be an approved animal transport business if you’re going to transport animals over that kind of distance. I could apply for this approval, but I’d need a certificate of competence. They’re available without further ado for anyone who has completed their agricultural training after 2008. Which quite obviously doesn’t apply to me. To get the certificate of competence, I’d have to do a training course. But that’s not possible in the short space of time before the planned transport. However, I could ask someone who’s done agricultural training since 2008 to come with me. I thought of Till, a young organic farmer from the neighbourhood. I told her his name. “OK”, said the lady. Till would then have to submit a written request for the certificate of competence. He’d need to include a copy of his training diploma. What else did I need to know? Oh yes, the cattle trailer would have to be closed. Open trailers are not permitted for transporting animals over distances exceeding 65 kilometres. “OK”, I sighed. It’s incredible how many regulations there are.

After this phone call, I’d never have believed it, but in the end, it all worked out really well! On the day before we were supposed to leave for Hamburg, I was just about to go to Plön in person to collect the “Veterinary office certificate to transport a livestock unit to Hamburg to the event ‘We want to be able to sell our milk!’ on 29 May 2024”, together with my temporary approval as transport business, my temporary certificate of competence for driver and attendant and Till’s unlimited certificate of competence for driver and attendant, when the phone rang. It was the veterinary office in Plön. I didn’t need to come into the office; instead, a district vet would come out to my farm to make sure that Dickybird is in good health and fit for transportation. “You’re joking”, I thought, they’ve only gone and landed me with an additional inspection. To be on the safe side, I checked that all the bedding in the cowshed was fresh and tidy, and made sure the entries in the veterinary drug register were all up to date. When the vet arrived, she wasn’t interested in any of that at all. We went out into the pasture to find Dickybird, I put a headcollar on the cow and the vet stroked her back. “She’s in good shape for an eleven-year-old cow”, she said. “Yes, that’s what I think too”, I replied. She gave me the papers and reminded me to take Dickybird’s registration certificate with me. I also needed to affix a yellow sign to the trailer saying “Caution, Animal Transport! Live Animals!”. “Have a good trip”, she added.

By the time we got to Hamburg, I was all worked up, of course. Dickybird didn’t have a care in the world. She stood there in her Texas panel pen, looked at the city dwellers, let dozens of people stroke her, and continued chewing. An official vet from Hamburg came round, admired Dickybird, took some photos of the cow and also of all the documents that I’d got in my “Hamburg expedition” folder. I stood by Dickybird with a smile on my face and tickled her under the chin, while hundreds of people took pictures of us on their phones. A bearded couple stood hand-in-hand next to the enclosure, beside themselves with joy. A real farmer, and a real cow: apparently, Hamburg had never seen anything like it!

Matthias Stührwoldt, dairy farmer, member of the AbL and author from Schleswig-Holstein