EU Farmers Stage Protest Against Low Milk Prices
European farmers recently staged a demonstration outside a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Luxembourg City, where protesters blocked traffic with tractors, burned a bale of hay and spilled milk in opposition to softening commodity prices. Led by Copa-Cogeca and the European Milk Board, the protesters called on “the heads of state and government to set clear political guidelines for addressing the crisis in the dairy sector,” according to a June 18, 2009, press release. “We want to draw the public’s attention to how serious the situation is,” stated Copa-Cogeca Secretary General Pekka Pesonen. “Having sustainable food production in Europe is at least as vital as having a strong banking sector.”
The European Commission has reportedly reinstated export subsidies and purchasing quotas in an emergency effort to shore up dairy markets, but EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has also urged retailers to explain why plummeting wholesale milk prices have not translated into consumer savings. According to Fischer Boel, the average retail price for milk has declined only 2 percent since it spiked in summer 2008, while producer prices have fallen by 50 percent during the same time period. The commissioner has recommended a “transparent system,” as well as a code of conduct, to see “where the added value is disappearing.” Fischer Boel was quoted as saying, “If they [retailers] don’t find a solution, the ultimate worse-case scenario would be that farmers would stop producing.” See The Guardian, June 22, 2009; The Irish Times, June 23, 2009; The London Times, June 24, 2009.
