Wednesday, 27 April 2016 13:55

European farmers hurting too

Written by  Peter Burke
Nathan Guy. Nathan Guy.

European dairy farmers are hurting too, says Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.

Guy, who attended the OECD agriculture ministers meeting in Paris this month, told Dairy News that EU farmers -- who get subsidies -- have the same cost of production and are paid about the same for their milk as New Zealand farmers.

"That goes to show that even with subsidies their farmers are still feeling pain. Some EU countries have now asked their farmers to voluntarily reduce supply because in the last 12 months production in the EU has grown by 2%.

"I told the ministers' forum that subsidies aren't sustainable in the long term and pointed out that when subsidies came off in NZ we had to innovate and adapt.... So it's not just NZ that's feeling the pain of global dairy prices, its right across the world."

Guy says he spent a day with the French Minister of Agriculture Stéphane Le Foll and went down to his electorate to see a farmers' market.

"I also went to Berlin where I had a couple of fascinating days visiting a dairy farm and milking a couple of cows. I later met with representatives of farming organisations from Germany, Ireland, Poland and other countries. We talked about the global milk price issue and it's clear this is very complicated. The EU countries talked about the Russian ban and the strong milk producing countries like Ireland and the Netherlands that are producing more milk."

Also compounding the problem, says Guy, is that low oil prices have reduced the buying power of some of the oil states. Last week he visited China to try to better understand what is happening there to supply and demand.

Guy says the OECD meeting was concerned with how farmers can feed a fast-growing population while also living with restrictions on farming. Climate change is a related issue, he says.

More like this

Top ag scientist to advise PM

A highly experienced agricultural scientist with specialist knowledge of the dairy sector is the Prime Minister's new Chief Science Advisor.

Featured

Aussie farmers get A$8.60/kgMS as opening milk price

Australian dairy farmers supplying Fonterra are getting an opening weighted average milk price of A$8.60/kgMS for the new season or around NZ$9.26/kgMS -  NZ74c less than New Zealand suppliers, based on the current exchange rate.

National

DairyNZ Farmers Forum underway

Over 300 farmers and rural professionals have gathered in Hamilton for the first DairyNZ Farmers Forum for this year.

Machinery & Products

Shearing legend hooked on CanAm

Sir David Fagan, world-renowned competitive sheep shearer with 642 shearing titles worldwide and a knighthood to his name, now runs…

50 years of tractor pull

This year, the Fieldays Tractor Pull, in association with PTS Logistics, mark a major milestone – 50 years of crowd-thrilling…

The Wrangler's birthday bash

It's the Wrangler Limited’s 30th birthday and to celebrate the milestone a prototype of the E Series Wrangler - a…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Free speech

OPINION: The Free Speech Union is taking this one too far.

Drug survey

OPINION: New national data from The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA), a leading workplace drug tester, shows methamphetamine (meth) use is…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter