(Montichiari, 23.6.2015) At the invitation of the APL della Pianura Padana and the European Milk Board (EMB), the Second European Fair Milk Conference was held today in the northern Italian town of Montichiari. At this occasion, the French Member of the European Parliament Michel Dantin has been honoured with the Golden Faironika award 2015 for his political commitment in favour of fair and sustainable agriculture. Further prices have been awarded to the dairy farmers Adrien Lefèvre (Northern France) and Antonella Viola (Italy) for their outstanding commitment to establishing fair conditions for producers, as well as to the Italian Minister for Agriculture Maurizio Martina.
At the opening of the conference, the President of the Italian association APL della Pianura Padana, Roberto Cavaliere, was pleased to welcome the large number of guests who came to Montichiari from different European countries, including farmers, politicians and consumers. Cavaliere stressed that "the Fair Milk project is a unique chance for farmers and consumers to gather and become partners. We dairy farmers want to offer consumers the opportunity to play their part in the preservation and further development of regional traditions". Cavaliere said it is an honour for his association to organise this year's European Fair Milk Conference at the occasion of the world's fair in Italy.
Romuald Schaber, EMB President, highlighted: "With the Fair Milk project, we as dairy farmers take on responsibility for the future of agriculture in a very concrete way". Despite the prevailing harsh conditions in the dairy sector, milk producers in six European countries managed to not only keep Fair Milk on the market, but also develop the project further. However, according to Romuald Schaber it is not possible to impose adequate general market conditions in Europe if political decision-makers remain inactive. "This is why this year we honoured MEP Michel Dantin with an award. During the negotiations on the future of the EU common agricultural policy he stood up for not letting farmers be at the mercy of a market without rules and safeguard mechanisms", said Schaber. He further described Dantin's proposal of voluntary production cuts in the event of overproduction as "pioneering". For this reason, the proposal was also incorporated in the EMB crisis management tool.
The Fair Milk project was launched in Austria in 2006. Since then, dairy farmers from six different EU Member States have been marketing Fair Milk products. Since last year, Italian consumers too have the possibility to support the preservation of rural farming in a concrete way. In Belgium, Austria and Luxembourg other fair dairy products than milk are now also available, as for instance fair cheese, butter or ice cream. As part of the Fair Milk week from 24th until 28th June, participating dairy farmers will present their products at the Expo world's fair in Milan.
Press release as pdf / Comunicato stampa
Contact:
Roberto Cavaliere (IT, FR): +39 (0) 335 635 6361
Romuald Schaber (DE): + 49 (0)160 352 4703
Regina Reiterer (DE, EN, FR): +32 (0) 478 630 557
