After 1 April, the European milk market will have no operating safety net. For the dairy farmers in Europe this means more, worse crises and falling prices in future. Many of them will have to give up milk production completely; regions throughout Europe will be affected.
As milk production will no longer be possible in many regions, consumers will have fewer possibilities in future for buying regional products. The diversity of dairy products will vanish.
That is why the dairy farmers are demanding that the European politicians put in place a working crisis system enabling crises to be predicted and prevented. The “Market Responsibility Programme” (MRP) could be the solution.
What can dairy farmers expect after the beginning of April?
On 31 March 2015, the milk quotas that have operated for more than 30 years will come to an end – the system for the time after that evinces considerable deficiencies. It is to be assumed that dairy farmers in many EU countries will initially step up production. Demand will not be able to absorb this large increase in production, and this will create a huge surplus of milk.
Too much milk in the market invariably causes a price collapse – the next market crisis is unavoidable!
Excess volumes will flood producers EMB calls for a Market Responsibility Programme (MRP)
The European politicians have failed to put in place market instruments to replace the quota system that will enable crises to be predicted and prevented. That is why the EMB is calling for the implementation of a Market Responsibility Programme. The MRP will be used as soon as the milk market is at risk of becoming unbalanced. A combination of monitoring and reacting to the market will enable impending crises to be recognised and reacted to in a three-stage programme.
A programme like this can give dairy farmers an incentive to adjust their production to the market situation. Any farmer producing more despite saturated markets will have to assume responsibility for this and pay a market responsibility levy. Any farmer producing less, on the other hand, in times of crisis will be given a bonus. In this way reliable framework conditions will be created for milk production and the survival of dairy farms in Europe will be secured.
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