23 November 2021

2 minute read

Representatives from twelve European countries gathered this week at the European Milk Board’s (EMB) General Assembly in Belgium to discuss key solutions for the dairy sector.

Milk production is already on the decline in key production countries, pointed out the organisation, saying that long-standing cost shortfalls have been driving dairy farmers out of business for years now. European milk producers are calling for a change in strategies in order to guarantee a future for the sector.  

Currently, cost pressures burden EU dairy producers. The organisation expects these pressures will be compounded by the current and future environmental strategies, such as the Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy. 

The unanimous opinion of the General Assembly was that it is imperative to create general framework conditions that guarantee a cost-covering producer price in order to correct past mistakes and prevent new mistakes in a green policy.

“The CAP reform adopted this year makes the voluntary volume reduction an official instrument for times of crisis in the EU’s Common Market Organisation," said EMB president Sieta van Keimpema. "This is a first small step on a long way the political decision-makers still have to go along with the farmers to radically reform the current agricultural system.”

“We want a climate policy – also, of course, because we farmers are the first to feel the impact of climate change," she added. "But it must be affordable and really effective for the environment and climate.”