Dairy Farmers in Europe Facing “Significant Cost Shortfall”: European Milk Board Urges EU Intervention

The European Milk Board (EMB) has issued a warning to dairy farmers in Europe, saying that they are at a significant cost shortfall due to a decrease in producer prices in the dairy sector across Europe since the beginning of 2023. The EMB believes that this should not be seen as a market correction, and that legislation at the European Union (EU) level is required to ensure that producer prices are higher than production costs. The EMB has urged the EU to take the fall in producer prices seriously and to implement measures such as an EU-wide voluntary production reduction immediately, as well as advocating for the reform of the EU agricultural system towards a socially-sustainable model in the medium term. The EMB has highlighted that in some countries such as Lithuania, more than 10% of producers have left the milk production sector. The latest European Commission short term dairy outlook predicts that the overall EU dairy herd could shrink by 1% in 2023, with a declining EU raw milk price likely to lead to increasing slaughterings, as feed and other input costs could remain high.