Walloon farmers are still calling for the regulation of dairy agricultural production. They think this would guarantee profitable prices. The farmers will be in Brussels on Monday. They want to make their voices heard during a meeting involving the European Ministers for Farming and Fishing, the United Federation of Farmers and Producers (Fugea) has said.
The price of milk has been falling for months, and numerous Walloon producers have said they can’t even cover their production costs.
“The Walloon Region has calculated what a dairy producer would need to earn their living: 41 cents a litre. Today, they earn half that. Once the cows have been fed and the loans paid, there’s nothing left for them”, said Fugea. They announced that farmers “will get to Brussels on tractor or by foot” for the European Agricultural summit, which will take place on 14th of March.
The Fugea has also accused Farmer’s Unions of ‘betraying’ Belgian farmers. Fugea has mentioned Copa-Cogeca, known as a “very liberal European super Union”. The Walloon farmer’s and producer’s association said it “didn’t ask for regulation” but simply “a rise in prices”, which is not enough for Fugea. They say it wouldn’t “save family farms”, but would be “a way to guarantee prices for factory farms with low production costs”.
(Source: Belga)
