European dairy looks to the future
Dairy has suffered a fair amount over the last year or so, due to the persistent drag of low farmgate prices on the industry. This has made meetings interesting, and the more than 220 dairy experts who attended and exchanged views at the EDA Dairy Policy for the 21st Century conference in Brussels last week showed that dairy policy after the quotas end is not a homogenous topic.
That being said, there was a lot of optimism around for good reason. EDA president Michel Nalet opened by telling the audience, “It is hard to find a sector with more promising prospects in the future than dairy,” quoting EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan.
MEP from Ireland Jim Nicholson joined the EDA president in underlining the importance of the dairy sector for the sustained development of European agriculture. Nicholson confirms that the prospects for dairy are and remain favourable; he also insists on a further improvement of the Milk Market Observatory (MMO).
He notes that some companies have introduced A and B pricing structures for milk, which may provide more certainty in pricing relations going forward. “We’re seen the green shoots of recovery, but the prices remain too low for a sustainable future,” Nicholson says. “We need to put a floor into the market.”
He also says the Russian ban had shown the weakness in becoming too reliant on one country as an export market. “We have to explore all export opportunities.”
Wrapping up his talk, Nicholson told the assembled, “We have to resist sliding back into the past, and start looking to the future. We’ve known about the end of quotas for a long, long time, so it’s not all doom and gloom. The medium and long-term prospects look good as the sector undergoes a period of restructuring. We have an opportunity to build a more confident dairy sector. We shouldn’t wait for New Zealand and the US to tell us what the price of milk is going to be, let us tell them. Let’s become global leaders, not global followers.”
Please see the May issue of Dairy Industries International for the full report.
