BRUSSELS (AP) — Hundreds of dairy farmers are expected to protest in Brussels on Monday to demand more European Union help to prop up prices and keep them in business.
The EU’s executive commission granted an extra €280 million in special aid to dairy farmers in October after a wave of protests, often violent. One protest saw farmers spray milk on Belgian fields to show that prices were so low that they were giving their milk away.
At a news conference Wednesday, small farmers say they will hold a protest outside a meeting of EU agriculture ministers and the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on Monday.
They said they are worried that the EU is pushing for more private contracts between farmers and milk producers which could force farmers to accept lower prices.
Milk prices have risen sharply and tumbled dramatically in the last few years, and small farmers say this shows the need for EU intervention to keep prices stable.
The EU has in the past bought milk from farmers to stabilize prices but isn’t keen to continue the practice. A European Commission report last month said prices are now level.
But the European Milk Board and Via Campesina — a coalition of pro-family-farm organizations — say tens of thousands of small milk producers have quit the business in recent years and many more are worried about their future because of volatile prices that deter them from making long-term investments.
The EU’s biggest farming group, Copa-Cogeca, won’t join the demonstration and said it doesn’t believe governments should prop up milk prices.
