PARIS
Since its opening on Saturday, surprises at the International Agricultural Show never stopped as dairy farmers from 10 countries in the EU made noise on Monday and broke into Hall 4, amid applause from the audience.
Led by Adrien Lefevre, president of the Association of Independent Milk Producers, the milk producers demand, among other things, a better distribution of money intended for the agricultural sector.
“There are 16 European countries that have seen agricultural demonstrations on their territory since the beginning of 2024. It is huge because the prices are falling in a lot of production”, Lefevre, also a dairy farmer in Sorcy-Bauthemont, told Anadolu.
“The Egalim law does not take the right price indicators into account. After calculating our production costs, it is 56 cents on average in the two big producing countries: France and Germany”, he claimed.
According to the protesters, this amount of 56 cents is not enough and cannot cover production costs and salaries.
The Egalim law, adopted in Oct. 2021, is supposed to ensure decent and fixed income for farmers, by protecting the price of raw materials.
As for Kjartan Poulsen, president of the European Milk Board (EMB), he said that he came from Denmark to show his disbelief that Europe wants to treat their farmers that way.
“We are supplying food for you every day, for everyone living in Europe, so please treat us a little bit better. But this is not what we see at the moment,” he told Anadolu.
“We can get a fair price for the farmers and the customers, but the companies are stealing our money,” he added.
Many farmers in Europe struggle to cover the production costs because of unfair milk prices and corporate manipulation and government policies.
“We want European regulation. Prices are completely unfair because there are no regulations and manufacturers make as much milk powder as possible for export,” Andre Lefranc, a member of the Association of Independent Milk Producers, told Anadolu.
