The outgoing chairman of the Danish Dairy Farmers association calls for greater use of EU crisis mechanisms and a return to level competitive conditions across member states.
Danish dairy farmer Kjartan Poulsen has spent years fighting to secure cost-covering milk prices for European producers. As he steps down as chairman of the Danish Dairy Farmers (LDM) and winds up his own farm operation, his message remains unchanged.
The remarks come from an interview with Danish agricultural trade media Effektivt Landbrug.
“The CAP should do far more to address the major price swings. And it is no secret that for years I have had one mission above all others, at both Danish and European level: to secure cost-covering prices for milk producers. But it is equally a matter of food security and ensuring that consumers can afford to pay,” he says.
Crisis mechanisms underused
Poulsen argues that the EU should reintroduce management tools based on so-called A and B prices, and make greater use of crisis mechanisms already embedded in the CAP. He points to the 2016 experience, where stockpiling skimmed milk powder failed to stabilise the market, whilst measures targeting production volumes at farm level had an immediate impact.
He also stresses that price stability is essential for recruiting the next generation into the sector.
“If we want more young people to enter the industry, there has to be a safety net for the milk price. It is far too volatile,” he says.
Uneven conditions across the EU
Poulsen is critical of the diverging ways in which the CAP is applied across member states, arguing that Denmark has imposed considerably stricter requirements on itself than most other EU countries, distorting competition as a result.
“I believe the EU and the CAP should return to the level playing field that to a greater extent characterised the union in earlier years,” he says.
Poulsen remains president of the European Milk Board for a few more months. He has recently sold his farm – comprising around 500 dairy cows – to the Danish state as part of a wetland restoration project under Denmark’s green land-use agreement.
By Maja Løvstrup
Source: Effektivt Landbrug
Photo: Megumi Nachev / Unsplash
