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Blow to Swiss farmers as price of milk drops

For the first time in more than a year Swiss milk regulators have dropped the recommended price of milk after over production caused surplus stocks.

Published: 25 February 2016 10:57 CET

Blow to Swiss farmers as price of milk drops

Farmers at a demonstration last year. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

From April 1st the price of a kilo of category A milk – destined for the domestic market – will drop from 68 centimes to 65 centimes, the lowest price since 2011.

That's despite farmers saying the current price doesn’t cover production costs as it is.

Last October farmers demonstrated in the Swiss capital Bern on the issue, calling for the price to be maintained at 68 centimes.

In a statement, milk industry body BO Milch said “The decrease represents further deterioration to an already difficult situation for milk producers” but that tricky market conditions meant the move was “inevitable”.

The body pointed to a recent increase in milk production both in Switzerland and abroad, and said that Swiss stocks of butter were higher now than at any time in the past six years.

“We observe a loss of market share by the Swiss milk economy in nearly every part of the market,” it added.

BO Milch also said the price gap between Swiss milk and milk from the European Union was now bigger than ever, at 30 centimes.

The price of category A milk is fixed each trimester by BO Milch, and remains a crucial reference point for price negotiations within the market.

There are two other sectors within the milk market: category B, milk that is exported to the EU; and category C, which is exported globally.

Last November Swiss media reported that some farmers are being driven to suicide over their inability to make ends meet.

The Swiss Farmers’ Union (SBV) said at the time that prices for milk, sugar and pork are “disastrous” and many farms are teetering on the brink.

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Farmers dump sheep killed by wolves in front of Swiss government building

Around a dozen breeders came from the Saint-Barthelemy area in the western Swiss canton of Vaud to lay out the carcasses of 12 sheep in front of the regional government headquarters in Lausanne, the Chateau Saint-Maire.

“These sheep were killed last night,” Eric Herb, a member of a Swiss association demanding the regulation of big predators, was quoted as saying by the Keystone-ATS news agency.

“It is really time to act.”

“We are sick of this. We want the wolf killed,” agreed Patrick Perroud, a farmer and butcher from the nearby municipality of Oulens.

“Cohabitation is not possible. Our territory is too small,” he told Keystone-ATS.

The protesters told the news agency that wolves had killed 17 sheep in the same area late last month, two earlier this week and 13 overnight to Saturday.

“The breeders have played nice until now, but this time it was too much,” Herb said.

The protesters were planning to increase the pressure on the Vaud government environment minister, Vassilis Venizelos of the Green Party, he said.

One of the protesters’ banners read: “Vassilis step down”, Keystone-ATS reported.

The breeders had briefly negotiated with regional police before being allowed to lay down the animal carcasses on tarpaulin in front of the Chateau.

Participants in the protest, which was supported by the regional chapter of the far-right Swiss People’s Party — Switzerland’s largest party — lamented that they were losing sleep.

“We have to check on our animals every night,” one was quoted as saying.

After being wiped out more than a century ago, wolves have in recent decades begun returning to Switzerland and to several other European countries.

Since the first pack was spotted in the wealthy Alpine nation in 2012, the number of packs swelled to 32 last year, with around 300 individual wolves counted.

Nature conservation groups have hailed the return as a sign of a healthier and more diverse ecosystem.

But breeders and herders complain of attacks on livestock and have been ramping up demands to cull more wolves.

Swiss authorities last year relaxed the rules for hunting the protected species, and decided to allow large preventative culls in the most affected cantons but swift legal actions put those plans partially on ice.

The debate in several parts of Europe about wolves rose up the political agenda in September.

In an open letter to the European Commission, eight leading conservation groups said there were ways to make coexistence easier between humans and large wild animals like wolves.

“Damage to livestock is often linked to the lack of adequate supervision and/or physical protection,” they said. They pointed to strategies such as “the training of dogs to protect herds, education of herders, tools and technical solutions to deter wolves”.

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