Even in 2018, an appeal on World Milk Day for fairness in the dairy sector is not excessive but is, in fact, the need of the day! After all, fair prices are especially important for us milk producers in the EU as well as for our colleagues on other continents.

Fairness for colleagues from African countries

It is the responsibility of the EU to implement an agricultural and food policy that also keeps the least developed countries in mind. Milk surpluses in Europe not only ruin prices for our farmers, they also flood African markets and prevent the development of the local dairy sector. The EMB is currently participating in a campaign to support local milk in West Africa in order to draw attention to this issue. For example, 48 million herders in the Sahel draw their income from grazing; hundreds of thousands of pastoralist families live off the production and processing of local milk. We in the EU must produce in a way that does not endanger the livelihood of these people!

For many years now, the milk producers of the EMB have been in contact with their African colleagues and have even documented the effects of EU milk powder exports in an exhibition. Europe's farmers must not only unite to defend their common goals, they must also show solidarity with producers in third countries.

More fairness in production as a keystone for a stable EU dairy market

There are increasing signs among EU policy-makers that there is will to take constructive action to combat the chronic overproduction and unfair prices in the dairy sector. In the 'Report on the future of food and farming', a large majority of the European Parliament demands effective instruments to better match supply and demand. The report explicitly mentions the possibility of reducing milk volumes during crises as well as expanding the scope of the Milk Market Observatory to include preventive action in the case of market imbalances in the future. It also states that sensitive sectors like raw milk production should be protected during negotiations for free trade agreements. It is now up to the European Commission to actually implement the European Parliament's guidelines within the ongoing reform of the Common Agricultural Policy! The goal must be to anchor instruments like the Market Responsibility Programme (MRP) at EU level.

Actively promoting fairness: The Fair Milk project by farmers

Working on the implementation of a political framework is one thing. Engaging directly with the market creatively, responsibly and passionately is quite the other. In this way, EMB milk producers in seven countries have taken their fate into their own hands and founded the 'Fair Milk' brand. Receiving fair prices and thus ensuring the sustainability of farms so that they can be handed down to the next generation – these are the goals of our milk producers. Consumers can actively support fair farming by purchasing Fair Milk products.

To honour and celebrate this commitment shown by dairy farmers, the fifth European 'Fair Milk Conference' will be held on 14 June in Lille, France. In recent years, the event has become a meeting point and forum for farmers, processors, consumers and policy-makers, where everything revolves around fairly-produced milk products. Would you like to participate? Then see you on 14 June in Lille – you are cordially invited!

Fairness is the foundation of a stable dairy market and should be the common theme along the length of the food chain – from dairy farm to consumer, from cow stall to fridge shelf. We, European milk producers, will continue to take decisive action to ensure fair conditions and on the occasion of World Milk Day, we would also like to thank everyone who has supported us through the years in this struggle. Be it through reporting on the real situation in the dairy sector or by deciding to buy fair milk products, all of which contribute to the survival of our farms and a rural Europe.

It is now time for European policy-makers to play their part and lay the foundation for a future-oriented fair agricultural policy.

EMB press release of 1. June 2018

June 1 was World Milk Day. To mark the occasion, citizens in France and around the world were invited to take a 'behind the scenes' look at milk production. This event was also an excellent occasion for us at APLI to introduce French citizens to what goes into our work.

In 2009, APLI organised a milk strike and the impressive milk spraying at Mont St Michel. The objective was to raise public awareness about the catastrophic consequences of the milk price collapse on producers, thrown into complete disarray. Nine years on, and the Association's commitment is still an urgent need of the day. 2018 is also set to be a pivotal year for milk producers. 

Will 2018 be the year of producers or the year of overproduction?

The last ten years have kept dairy farmers desperately gasping for air with a milk price of about 340 euros/tonne. The number of producers has been in free fall, while industrial mega-structures have developed in parallel. Sadly, the latter does not allow for the fair, sustainable future that producers are advocating.

In France, APLI is currently sending out a message of optimism while keeping a close eye on decisions by policy-makers. The speech by Emmanuel Macron to inaugurate a meeting on the state of agriculture that brought together farmers and industry stakeholders, followed up by meetings with his councillors, have been a source of hope. The fact that social security contributions and wages for producers have to be included in the calculation of production costs has finally attracted the attention of policy-makers. A law on this issue is being drafted as we speak. Will it really take these aspects into account? Or will we remain stuck in a system that will imply the end of days for those who refuse to become substandard clones of the 1000-cow farm?

APLI is optimistic but is not letting up. It is possible that 2018 will be a year of irrational decisions that will leave the country's producers with no other choice but to mobilise even more emphatically. But it could also be the starting point for the implementation of a set of lifesaving political solutions after ten long years of advocacy and suffering in the sector.

Press release by the French association of independent milk producers (APLI) on 26 May 2018

The Federal Government must turn away from this cheap export-import strategy. The AbL calls for a quality offensive.

On 22 May, the Foreign Ministers of the EU Member States approved the European Commission's trade mandate, which serves as the basis to launch negotiations for a trade agreement between the EU and New Zealand & Australia. To date, the sensitive European dairy market has been offered the widest protection against imports. This new trade agreement would do away with these safeguards.

"The situation on the dairy market is currently extremely fragile and tense," says Ottmar Ilchmann, spokesperson of the German small farmers' association AbL. "Though the market has recovered slightly in recent weeks, you cannot count on the prospect of price increases as yet. The milk market is still flooded. That is why the prices paid to producers are ten cents short of cost coverage. This situation is disastrous for our dairy farms and with a new trade agreement with New Zealand and Australia, additional dairy imports would be allowed on to our already overflowing market. This is will put our entire small-scale dairy farming sector on the line."

New Zealand and Australia mainly want to export dairy products, but they are interested in meat as well. According to calculations by the Thünen Institute, full liberalisation would lead to production reductions in Germany between 3.3% and 3.9% for raw milk and 3.9% and 4.5% for dairy products. Producing milk is significantly cheaper in Oceania as compared to Europe. This low-prices strategy has, nonetheless, had consequences in New Zealand. The environmental impact of nutrient surpluses from agriculture regularly make the local headlines.

"We would be importing this environmental burden as well, if such trade agreements were to be concluded," says Ottmar Ilchmann. "At the same time, our farmers will also be pushed toward more intensive production, driven by this cheap export-import strategy. Society and farmers are more vehement in their critique of this development. The German small farmers' association AbL rejects trade agreements like this one with New Zealand and Australia and calls for a quality offensive in agricultural and trade policy."

Press release of the German small farmers' association AbL (22 May 2018)

Interview with Jean-Luc Pruvot, milk producer in Aisne, President of FaireFrance and one of the organisers of the Fair Milk Conference held on 14 June in Lille.

Mr Pruvot, FaireFrance organised this year's European Fair Milk Conference. What is the context underpinning this event?

This year, we are celebrating five years of the FaireFrance brand – a great occasion for us to organise this year's conference. This is already the fifth European Fair Milk Conference, which is organised by the European Milk Board and one of its member countries.

FaireFrance is a brand that belongs to more than 500 farmers distributed all over France. These dairy farmers decided to take destiny into their own hands and created their own brand, thus guaranteeing that they are paid viable prices and that their farms can remain in business. FaireFrance fair milk provides remuneration on the basis of production costs that also take into account our wages – 45 cents/litre.

Who is behind the fair milk project?

The fair milk initiative is a European project of the European Milk Board. We are now present in seven countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland. It all began in Austria ten years ago. In December 2017, Switzerland launched their fair milk brand and thus joined our family. The countries generally began by selling milk and then expanded their product palette to include butter, cream, yoghurt, cheese, chocolate milk and even ice cream.

What were the highlights of this year’s converence?

This year, a round table discussion took place where the different European fair milk projects participated through their country representatives. The conference was also an opportunity to dialogue with policy-makers, processors and consumers. One of the highlights was the 'Golden Faironika' awards ceremony.

Who were the winners of the "Golden Faironika" award in 2018?

The French awards went to two reliable partners: one "Golden Faironika" was presented to Emmanuel Vasseneix, President of the dairy LSDH, who has been a loyal partner to us since the beginning of our Fair Milk project. Christian Rodot from the retail chain Leclerc also received an award for his active support in sales; as a matter of fact, our first Fair Milk delivery went to his business.

This year, for the first time, two representatives of the press – French reporters Sabine and Bernard Godard and Dutch agricultural and environmental journalist Geesje Rotgers – received awards for their committed and critical reporting. At European level, a Golden Faironika was awarded to the Committee of the Regions, for its commitment to cost-covering prices and sustainable milk production in the last years.

Belgian Alain Minet, who works tirelessly for the Fair Milk project in Belgium, also received an award. Yes, and I was also surprised with a golden cow, which makes me particularly proud!

Mr Pruvot, thank you very much for the interview!

Regina Reiterer, EMB 

Video European Fair Milk Conference Lille 2018

See also our press release on the 5th Fair Milk Conference