Millions of gallons dumped: EU farmers in white heat over milk prices

Belgian farmers sprayed 790,000 gallons of fresh milk onto their fields September 16, furious over the low milk prices they say are bankrupting farmers. Two days later French farmers followed suit with 921,683 gallons of milk sprayed on fields.

Milk farmers’ groups said world prices had sunk so much they are having to sell milk at half their production costs. To highlight their desperation, about 300 tractors dragged milk containers through plowed fields in southern Belgium, dumping a day’s worth of milk production.

Romuald Schaber, the president of the European Milk Board farmers’ group, said up to half the farmers in some areas were refusing to deliver their milk and predicted the first shortages could hit some supermarkets as early as September 21.

To raise milk prices from the current $11.79 to $15.88 a hundredweight to the $26.31 they say is required to cover costs, the farmers are demanding tougher EU production quotas.

But the Europe-wide protests have also suffered from a lack of unity among farmers, with many either objecting to the spilling of milk or the strike itself.

The 27-nation EU already pays for extra help to farmers in addition to the $80 billion it pays annually for support payments, market regulation, storage aid, rural development and other projects. Quotas for milk production are scheduled to end in 2015.

One of the most shielded economic sectors in the EU, agriculture has not been able to protect farmers from the global financial crisis that caused demand to crash.

“If we go on for another three months like this, 40 percent of French milk producers will be condemned to bankruptcy,” said Pascal Massol, a Breton farmer.

The European Union opposes tougher quotas, seeking instead to abolish the practice to let market forces have a stronger influence on production. PD

—From AP newswire