A few day ago Belgian farmers, and later this same week also farmers from other European countries, poured away milk onto fields as a protest against the European Union milk quota and low milk prices. The total milk drain was estimated 6 million liters, twice as much as the originally planned 3 million liters. I totally understand the frustration of those farmers, but this is nutrition they are spilling.
The farmers are obligated to produce a daily quota of milk by the EU, and this causes a surplus of milk. Due to this surplus, the prices of milk stay low (economic equilibrium of price and quantity is where supply and demand meet). In a competitive market, the farmers would produce less milk, the supply would get less and the prices would go up, but due to the obligated quota, prices stay low and the farmers barely survive. So is this quota a bad thing? Yes and no, depending how you look at it. From the consumer point of view, the quota is a good thing because the milk is cheap and that is how a basic nutrition ingredient should be. As seen from the world market, it is a bad thing. For example, European milk is exported to Africa. The local milk is much more expensive than the European milk. This results into the fact that the local farmers will lose their market and end up with unsold milk. This can have dramatic consequences for the already poor farmers.
As from a human point of view, this milk drain is unacceptable. All over the world people are dying of malnutrition, starving of hunger and here they just pour away that essential white liquid.
The farmers are obligated to produce a daily quota of milk by the EU, and this causes a surplus of milk. Due to this surplus, the prices of milk stay low (economic equilibrium of price and quantity is where supply and demand meet). In a competitive market, the farmers would produce less milk, the supply would get less and the prices would go up, but due to the obligated quota, prices stay low and the farmers barely survive. So is this quota a bad thing? Yes and no, depending how you look at it. From the consumer point of view, the quota is a good thing because the milk is cheap and that is how a basic nutrition ingredient should be. As seen from the world market, it is a bad thing. For example, European milk is exported to Africa. The local milk is much more expensive than the European milk. This results into the fact that the local farmers will lose their market and end up with unsold milk. This can have dramatic consequences for the already poor farmers.
As from a human point of view, this milk drain is unacceptable. All over the world people are dying of malnutrition, starving of hunger and here they just pour away that essential white liquid.
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