The European Milk Council organized a demonstration campaign calling for the launch of a milk production reduction plan

The European Milk Commission (EMB) organized several milk demonstrations on 7 May, thick skimmed milk powder was sprayed on the fields of many sectors in France, milk powder shot straight into the sky in front of the Federal Chancellery in the German capital, and dairy farmers in Italy, Denmark, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Belgium also held demonstrations to protest the European Commission's efforts to tackle eu milk overproduction by subsidizing private storage, rather than through voluntary cuts coordinated at the EU level. Together, we call for the launch of a voluntary production cuts programme within the EU.

The coronavirus crisis has led to a collapse in demand for dairy products. As Roberto Cavaliere, a member of the emb executive committee, reported from Italy, the closure of schools, kindergartens and public institutions, coupled with the almost complete stagnation of the hotel and catering industry, has led to a significant reduction in the number of dairy products purchased. We currently produce too much milk and need to reduce this production across the EU. We dairy farmers are willing to take responsibility and participate in the production reduction plan coordinated by the European Commission.

Milk crisis measures must address milk levels directly, not by subsidizing the storage of processed products and allowing butter and milk powder to pile up. Inventory products are still part of the available supply, thus suppressing milk prices. As a result, the announced €30 million would be better spent on a reduction program than for private storage.

The EU should be willing to learn from past mistakes. As a crisis tool of 2015-2017, licenses for private storage assistance and other production and inter-farm organizations to cut production on a regional (rather than EU-wide) basis are completely ineffective. On the other hand, the EU's plans to reduce emissions have been successful.

As Kjartan Poulsen, a Danish dairy farmer and member of the EMB Executive Committee, has emphasized, this is not the first time the EU has chosen the wrong crisis management tool. Dairy farmers at EMB and other associations highlighted the problem of a large stock backlog in 2017 during a large milk powder demonstration in Brussels. We therefore urgently call on the EU to stop using interventional storage tools and start working with dairy farmers so that we can work together on a plan to reduce production.

Today's Policy-related milk powder demonstrations across Europe will not be the last. Many German producers have already announced further demonstrations in the coming days.

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