Spain: Some of dairy farmers affected aren´t in the agreement
Spanish Government emphasizes that the agreement with the distribution, industry and ASAJA and Agrifood Cooperatives on the side of farmers, will result in better and more remunerative prices for each segment of the value chain. For COAG and UPA, organizations representing the industry that ultimately did not sign, “because there guarantees a fair price for milk and serve to change habits and distribution industries, not introduce penalties for those who violate” say in a statement.
Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA) has held that “the agreement for the sustainability of the dairy sector is quite positive and only bring benefits to Spanish farmers.” This was said after signing the agreement, promoted by the cabinet itself, someone calls of intent, between industry, the distribution sector and farmers.
Isabel García Tejerina has stressed that this agreement is as ambitious as our legal system allows and has specified that fixing a minimum price for milk is contrary to our legal system. “What is not legal I can not promote,” he stated.
Industry awards and distribution
Spanish Government has highlighted the commitment of the distribution to stop using milk as product claim and have long-term contracting methods with the industry, which will allow the industry to organize your shopping with farmers as they organize production. “These are two important steps that certainly will generate more value and more income for farmers” welcomed the Minister of Agriculture.
Dairy industry has also pledged to provide sales data of liquid milk, or brand distribution, distribution. García Tejerina has also explained that, like the Ministry knows the prices of the livestock industry, now know the price of the distribution industry and know how consumers buy.
Interesting, but “without courage”
UPA and COAG have explained their refusal to participate in the signing of the agreement dairy orchestrated the MAGRAMA, after ratification of the agreement by the other agents of the food chain. Farmers’ organizations, which mostly represent the Spanish dairy farmers, have said in press conference that the text has lacked courage to establish a system of sanctions to compel compliance and to define clearly what a “sustainable price” the farmer.
Román Santalla, secretary of Livestock of UPA, has recognized, however, that the agreement is “interesting” for the industry and your organization will not hesitate to join the same if we consider their demands. Although he has criticized the text picks up the possibility of new accessions of industries and distribution companies but not from organizations of farmers, which was rated as “unfair and unreasonable”, and demanded to Agriculture to reconsider and not “break the bridges.”A, dairy, distribution, ranchers, COAG, ASAJA, UPA, Cooperative, milk, Unio
Livestock responsible for the other OPA, Andoni Garcia, agreed that “we can hardly conclude an agreement which does not guarantee at all remunerative prices for farmers to cover the costs of production.” Sendas organizations have reminded referred to high degree of non-compliance with previous agreements signed in the dairy sector and have called signs of goodwill on the part of industry and distribution to restore the lost confidence in the dairy chain.
“The first thing to do is break contracts industries down they had imposed on farmers”, he has held responsible for UPA. “Prices should recover immediately,” he said.
Since the Union of Unions of farmers organization it has stated that the government “staged the presentation of a document containing proposals for the dairy sector that ultimately abandons any solution to the crisis of the producers in the hands of voluntarism and industry large retailers. A voluntarism that past experience with simultaneous price cuts, no threats of sanctions and milk collection including competition authorities, advise getting very concerned.
COAG and UPA have ensured that the demonstrations that throughout the summer have kept thousands of farmers on the street, are not called off, but “dormant” waiting to see how the industry and distribution in the coming days will behave. “We hope that the use of milk as product claim is an attitude of the past,” he pointed out both representatives of the dairy farmers.
