Dairy farming in a ‘wartime economy’
MILK PRODUCERS are not facing a minor crisis – the current maelstrom of adverse conditions afflicting their industry merits being regarded as a ‘wartime’ situation.
So says the European Milk Board, which has called on the EU and its member states to implement protective measures for the food chain that take proper account of the problems farmers are facing.
EMB listed sky-rocketing production costs, drought, feed scarcity, fertilizer shortages, farm abandonment, closures of dairies and other food processors, and a reduction in milk volume as the battalion of problems that have marched across Europe, taking a massive toll on the dairy sector, as well as the broader food production industry.
The seriousness of the situation demanded drastic measures from national governments, said EMB, beginning with energy price caps for dairy farms, milk processors and other stakeholders in the dairy production chain and the food production sector. There should also be financial aid for active farms and processors to help with their energy costs.
“The individual actors in the agricultural sector and along the food production chain are dependent on energy and production inputs being available at affordable prices,” said EMB president, Sieta van Keimpema.
“Today, there is a gradual domino effect and each link in the chain pulls the next one down with it. Let me give you just one example from the many issues that are currently the norm in the agricultural and food sector: High gas prices lead to interruptions in fertilizer production, which then means higher prices as well as fertilizer and feed shortages – an additional, enormous burden on farmers who are already confronted with rising energy costs of their own and producer prices that continue to be too low.
“This pushes them to reduce production. This then has an effect on food processors, many of whom are already closing their doors due to their own higher energy costs.”
The EMB’s Executive Committee stressed that the industry was not dealing with a minor crisis: “The current conditions already merit being referred to as a wartime economy. They must be taken extremely seriously and constructive steps must be taken at EU level to solve them.
Industry leaders said that dairy businesses had already taken all the measures that they could to increase their own efficiency and resilience, but the situation had far surpassed what was possible to fix within each business.
“When it comes to dairy farms, they were already brought to the brink by the crises in recent years and are unable to continue production under current conditions,” said EMB vicepresident Kjartan Poulsen. “But simply allowing producers and processors to disappear is not an option because it will shrink EU food production to dangerous levels. We must have enough food to feed the EU population. And this means that the foundations of production must be supported with appropriate measures.
“Fundamentally redirecting the system toward social sustainability – ensuring that producers can make a living from their work – is the only way to safeguard a stable production structure and thus food sovereignty in the EU in the long term.”