EMB says the future of the dairy industry depends on young farmers

At the EMB's biennial General Assembly, which was held digitally this spring, the long-term survival of European MILK production was the main theme.

According to the EMB (European Dairy Council), the fact that only 5% of milk producers in the EU are under 35 and only 14% between 35 and 44 predicts a bleak future for the European agricultural sector.

According to EMB members, the trend is exacerbated by the fact that the price of raw milk in many countries is much lower than production costs – in some countries cost coverage is 50%. Dairy farmers were presented at the assembly with figures from a soon-to-be-published cost study that also shows that in the eight key milk-producing countries it covers, current real incomes do not look promising for the future.

EMB claims that while the price of milk has remained largely unchanged, feed costs and climate change mitigation measures are on the rise.

The milk producers in the EMB unanimously agreed that if the farms are to survive, they must receive a higher percentage of the income generated from milk.

Cost-covering prices are possible, the statement says, as evidenced not only by dairy costing figures but also by projects such as Fair Milk run by milk producers. Representatives of this project, which operates in many EMB countries, shared their success stories at the General Assembly.

EMB Vice President Kjartan Poulsen said: "We are proud of the excellent work done by Fair Milk representatives in their respective countries."

Another problem that farmers are already facing directly on their farms is the environmental and climate crises and the lack of (green) fodder due to drought. However, it is important to ensure that the costs of mitigating these crises are not simply passed on to producers. At the same time, there is still a lack of balanced, comprehensive approaches at the political level to consider how the costs of such measures will be covered, EMB said.

EMB President Sieta van Keympema said: “The Green Pact for Europe and its farm-to-fork strategy outlines comprehensive measures but does not say how they will be funded. Unfortunately, the situation of farmers is not taken into account in any way.”

All members of the EMB, regardless of their age, said they needed and wanted to stand up more strongly for a holistic, future-oriented and intergenerational fair agricultural sector. They agreed that the future is with young farmers and EMB will work more closely with them to ensure that agricultural prices pay for production.

PioneerProduct based on dairyreporter.com