Spain: Livestock protest in different producing regions

COAG dairy farmers began a process of mobilization in the different producing areas to claim a package of urgent and effective measures to solve the serious situation that the sector is suffering.

Dairy farmers of Castile and Leon distributed on 15 July 2500 liters of milk between Valladolid and needy families in the Galician farmers, convened by the Union Labrego Galego (SLG), is manifiestaron in Santiago de Compostela in unity of action within the “Platform in defense of Galician dairy sector.”

“We are ready to do battle where necessary before resigning ourselves to have to close our operations due to severe price crisis that suffocates the very punished sector itself for years,” he pointed Gaspar Anabitarte, head of the dairy sector COAG. “Hardly we will have a sustainable dairy sector with livestock prices which in many cases do not exceed 0.22 € / l, well below production costs, above 0.30 € / l. It does not understand the arrogance of a part of the industry, with an average retail price of 0.72 € / l, and that this attitude can be carried forward to thousands of farms, “lamented Anabitarte.

In this context, farmers are demanding that the Ministry of Agriculture and the various regional administrations:

– Ensure the collection of whole milk produced and prices that cover production costs.

– Quantification of the milk surplus and managing it through the mechanisms of public intervention, private storage and shipping humanitarian aid.

– Mechanisms to clarify the movements of milk and derivatives market supervised by the MAGRAMA, agile monthly balances. At the same time, operating measures to offset any imbalances in the market, with involvement of dairies.

– Immediate start of accompanying measures in the dairy package, make agile legal defense in cases of breach of contract. In effect, it is necessary that the AICA accelerate the process of investigation and sanction, if any, of the many complaints it has received.

– Request to the EU of a package of urgent measures to collect among other things, updating the price of milk network security around production costs.

Source: COAG