The precedent set by Dutch dairy FrieslandCampina has shown that reducing volume through a bonus system is technically possible and can be implemented in the short-term.

These temporary measures by FrieslandCampina - brought on due to the dairy's lack of processing capacity - led to a reduction of about 35 million kilos in the volume of milk. The Dutch company paid its members a bonus of 2 cents/kg to limit their production in the period from January 1 to February 11, 2016.

According to the cooperative, around 60 per cent of members participated in the measures. A total 14.1 million euros was paid to the participating members within the bonus system.

Limited effect on milk production in January 2016

Dutch milk producers have significantly increased their production this January. Milk volumes increased by 15.5% to 1.21 million tonnes as compared to the same month of the previous year. According to RVO.nl (the Netherlands Enterprise Agency), the production cuts by FrieslandCampina had but a limited effect on milk production in January 2016. Without these measures, milk production would have increased by 17.5%.

The figures from the Netherlands speak loud and clear. With the abolishment of quotas, milk is produced come hell or high water. The mild winter has led to even better milk yields in January. A short and intense winter led to milk collection difficulties only in the north of the country. Dutch milk producers produced considerably less in January 2015, in order to avoid levies in the last quota year.

The programme incentivising production cuts has shown results. However, it must be clearly stated that the interests of individual dairies stand at the forefront and the effect is limited to the region. In order to ensure a sustainable recovery of the European dairy market, a legal framework has to be implemented at EU-level.

Sieta van Keimpema, EMB

Current EMB press release: For solidarity, for social harmony in the EU!

For a while now, the European Union has ceased to be the institution of solidarity and peace it was for so many of us for such a long time. Be it the Brexit or the Grexit, the refugee or the financial crisis - there are currently many forces pulling the countries of the EU away from each other, rather than bringing them closer together. Today, the agricultural sector as well is contributing to divisions within the Union. This is an appeal for a real COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY!

Brussels, 24.02.2016: We need policies that bring people back together. This is required in all sectors, but especially in the agricultural sector. Current agricultural policies have triggered a crisis that has destroyed prices of agricultural products and thus robbed farmers of their income and livelihood. Producers have reacted in a very typical way to such social injustice: In addition to hefty protests against policy-makers, there are also many cases where producers have taken action against their fellow colleagues from other countries. For example, milk tankers from neighbouring countries are stopped and emptied in the middle of the road, so as to prevent foreign milk from exerting even more pressure on the already saturated national market. In a state of panic, local dairies and consumers are being asked to process or buy only national products. Because of this dire situation, farmers are forced to compete for resources with their neighbours, who are also struggling to survive in their own highly saturated national markets.

The Common Agricultural Policy is not being used

All this is even more painful when you consider that the European Union has a Common Agricultural Policy that could resolve this crisis for all countries at EU level. The dairy sector, for example, would require centralised volume reduction during times of crisis, which can be implemented in the form of voluntary production cuts and further measures described in the Market Responsibility Programme. This would provide a solution to market saturation that would be fair for all countries. But these advantages presented by the Common Agricultural Policy are not being used – quite the contrary. National egoism, stemming from uncertainty, is gaining ground.

The European Commission, together with countries like Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland refuse to budge from policies that lead to increased production and are thus shirking their responsibility to uphold social harmony in the EU.

Recommendations from Member States must lead to volume reduction measures

Tomorrow, 25.02.2016 is the last day for Member States to submit their crisis resolution recommendations to the European Commission. It is important for these to, at last, lead to the implementation of volume reduction measures. However, this depends not only on how the recommendations themselves are formulated, but also on the European Commission's evaluation of the same. If they were to, once again, simply cherry-pick and promote the concepts that are in line with their own strategies – providing loans for increased production, export promotion etc. – it will be another clear example of how the Commission exploits its position. This will also unequivocally demonstrate how blind they are to their responsibility towards social harmony in the EU and how poorly this value is upheld.

Let us not forget: it is possible to address the problem of overproduction in the dairy sector at EU level and thus ensure that farmers and consumers in individual countries are not left hanging. If the European Commission and the Member States – most notably Germany – do not capitalise on this opportunity, the voices against open borders with neighbouring EU Member States will only get louder. This poses a grave danger, as it would not only lead to divisions within the EU, but it could eventually lead to a complete collapse.

The European Milk Board calls for a European Union that acts in favour of the common good and well-being of its citizens and shows solidarity while upholding peace and harmony. EU agricultural policy cannot be used as a tool to pit European producers against each other!

Farmers For Action (FFA) UK NI and Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers’ Association (NIAPA), coming together as Northern Ireland Farm Groups on the big issues for Northern Ireland, have been pursuing legislation on farm-gate prices, which we have previously reported to EMB.

The aim is to return Northern Irish farming families a minimum of the cost of production plus an inflation-linked margin across all staples including milk. The work on the legislation proposal with Stormont politicians and the Agriculture Committee has been ongoing for some two years since the idea was first conceived and it has been a learning process along the way.

We were advised to package the proposal ahead of the Northern Irish local elections in May 2016. The first part of the package was to commission an economists’ report. Economist Paul Gosling delivered his report in January this year, entitled ‘On the Eve of Destruction: the Case for Stormont intervention to save Northern Ireland’s farming industry’. This 13-page report first of all states how bad things were for family farmers in Northern Ireland up to the end of 2015 (new figures just announced by the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland show a further decline in Northern Irish farm incomes of 41%). The report then explains how good things could be if legislation on farm-gate prices were to be introduced by Northern Ireland’s Stormont government. Indeed, the creation of 10,000 – 20,000 new jobs is sighted initially with a saving of £ 280 million stg in welfare payments and future prosperity for Northern Ireland.

These jobs would be created as follows: 60% of Northern Ireland’s farms are part-time; on average one person per farm of these 60% would give up their job in the city, in the National Health Service, as a teacher, as an architect etc and return to their farm if it were profitable, thus leaving newly created, quality jobs in towns, cities and countryside. The other 40% full-time farmers are desperate to employ trained professional farm staff alongside general farm workers. Therefore, we are claiming and can verify that this will equate to at least one newly created job per farm on average. According to University College Dublin, one new farm job creates another four jobs further down the line in the agri-food sector, the rural services sector, in manufacturing etc., bearing in mind that farmers purchase from approximately 123 different suppliers, everything from computing systems to tyres, machinery, sheds, concrete, veterinary supplies, services etc.

The second part of the package advice was for Northern Ireland Farm Groups to have the actual legislation written and ready to go after the election. This is currently being carried out by a professional, allowing us to stay in control of what is being written. Meanwhile, our biggest difficulty is trying to get the wider media, the politicians and the general public to make the link and accept the fact that a nation’s prosperity begins with the land and innovation and that Northern Ireland's largest industry is currently disintegrating due to lack of income due to the large corporate food retailers, food wholesalers and to a lesser extent food processors and their increasing financially abusive, dominant position when purchasing at the farm gate, as very well explained in the Gosling Report. As a result our public awareness campaign is ramping up to persuade Northern Irish voters only to vote for political parties or independent candidates who pledge to introduce the legislation immediately after the election.

To conclude, what we hope to do in Northern Ireland with our legislation proposal shortly is really what the EU should have done years ago for Europe’s family farmers, to allow the EU to be able to claim that they truly carry out their duty to the people of the EU as stated in the Treaties.

William Taylor, FFA UK NI & NI Farm Groups co-ordinator