Milk strike anger continues to grow
A bank flooded with milk and a possible hunger strike are among the actions being taken by dairy farmers
DAIRY farmers across France are continuing to throw away hundreds of thousands of litres of milk in protest at a lack of support from the government and the EU.
The strike actions, which are now in their second week, continue to escalate across large parts of the country.
Independent milk farmers’ association APLI claims milk supplies are down 45% in the Loire, 30% in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and 25% in Brittany.
Some 300 farmers decided to spray their fields with 200,000 litres of milk yesterday in Plouguernével in the Côtes-d’Armor, Brittany.
Several dairy factories in the department were blockaded and the wives of some of the producers have said they will go on hunger strike from Monday.
A branch of the Crédit Agricole bank in Boën-sur-Lignon in the Loire was flooded with 3,000 litres of milk. The local mayor said he was “150% in support” of the farmers’ cause.
The European Commission has proposed a series of measures to ease the pressure on the farmers, but unions say these do not go far enough.
They include new rules on the amount producers are fined if they exceed their production quota.
The money collected from these fines will be pumped back into the industry by way of an aid package for producers who need financial help buying new equipment.
Producers are angry with the prices negotiated by the industry’s biggest union, FNSEA, which they say are too low for their work to be financially viable.
Some farmers have warned they are losing tens of thousands of euros a year and are on the brink of going bust.
