2023-08-25 06:30:21
The ranchers of Girona’s counties have seen how the price they receive for cow’s milk has fallen by 15% in less than half a year. As explained by the sector, during the first quarter of the year they sold a liter of milk at around 59 cents, now, in some cases, the price is around 50 cents. Livestock farms and agricultural organizations in the province are already alerting and raising their voices about the impact that the reduction in prices, which has started to be recorded since last April, will have on cow’s milk farms. «Faced with this drop and a possible new drop, since it seems that they want to lower the price again, it will cause many livestock farms to close again», assures Marc Xifra, head of the Union of Farmers’ dairy cattle.
In this line, the head of the dairy cattle sector of the agricultural association of Young Farmers and Cattlemen of Catalonia (JARC), Roser Serret, believes that “it may be that we close a very negative year”. However, Serret argues that “since in the first quarter we still went with the previous prices and we are a sector that we are used to endure, I suppose that this year things will endure. The most difficult thing will be to see how this price drop will be sustained over time».
Roser Serret states that “the problem we have with milk is that it is a product that cannot be stored. When the industries have surplus milk, they lower the price, and when they don’t have enough, they all go out to look for it and they all raise the price.” «We, as a sector, would ask that there be a stable price, because cows eat the same in autumn, spring or summer“, he explains.
The difficulties experienced by the sector have not only caused many to close the business, others have chosen to reinvent themselves. «I am aware that many farms have switched from dairy cows to beef calves, because it is an easier animal to keep and the price is not so variable», assures Serret.
The situation is increasingly making it more difficult for livestock farmers, who see how the margins are reduced. “It’s a disaster, we’ve been dragging out a price crisis since 2017,” says a disgruntled Pau Barnés. He has a farm in Caldes de Malavella with a herd of 130 cows, sixty of which produce milk. «There are days when I see the future of the profession badly and there are days when I see it worse“, he relates. Barnés believes that “there is no Government commitment to our sector. The free market is left to do what it wants without protecting productions that are more than necessary.” “They have closed many farms and many more will close from those that endured the blow”, he adds.
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Affected by the drought
Not only the drop in milk prices affects the sector. Ranchers also see that high temperatures and drought also impact their businesses. The weather has led to less production of feed for livestock and therefore this has made the price of feed more expensive. Josep Roca has a cow farm in Maçanet de la Selva and explains that “climate change is very noticeable”. He has had to install fans on his farm “because the cows are suffering a lot”.
A generalized situation
The situation in the sector does not only affect farms in the Girona counties. In Asturias, data compiled by the Asturian Society of Industrial Economic Studies (Sadei) show that the average price of a liter of cow’s milk hit a ceiling, slightly above 60 cents, in the first quarter of this year to start drop in the spring below this amount. The livestock associations of Asturias have already conveyed to the Minister of Rural Environment, Marcelino Marcos Líndez, their concern about the repercussions that this reduction in the price may have for livestock farms specializing in cow’s milk. “The situation is complicated and not only because of the drought, which will make corn more expensive. Urgent measures are needed. Last year they closed a hundred farms and this year we are going the same way. This situation deserves reflection”, explains Ramón Artime, president of Asaja in Asturias, who points to the industry’s responsibility in the current situation. “It is the industry that is lowering the price of milk to farmers this time, and the industry without farmers is nobody,” says Artime.
Borja Fernández, general secretary of Unió Rural Asturiana (Ura), reviews the evolution of the price of the liter of milk in recent months and in the same line as the head of the milk cattle Union of Farmers advances that the immediate expectations, for September, they maintain the downward trend. “In December 2022, farmers who work with Central Lechera were paid 61 cents per liter; in July of this year to 54 cents; in August to 51 cents and for this coming month they have the perception that it will drop another three cents per litre, to 48”, points out Borja Fernández. In other words, in just nine months the reduction will reach 13 cents per litre. But in the meantime, they emphasize from the agricultural associations, the cost of fuel has risen again, as well as that of corn, necessary for livestock feed.
No generational relief
All this means that cattle farmers are not optimistic about the future of the profession. «I do not see my children following in the future. There are many difficulties that you do not control and that do not help you to want to invest and improve», explains Josep Maria Ruiz. He has a farm in Maçanet de la Selva, at the age of 22, when he stopped studying, he started working with his father, two decades ago. “If the business is profitable, you’re already making improvements and catching up, but there comes a point where you wonder if it’s worth continuing to invest so much in a business that gives you so little margin,” he explains. “It seems that small producers are finding it more and more complicated and production will be in the hands of a few farms, I see that is the future”, he concludes.
For his part, Josep Roca explains that he does have relief, his son. “At home I have relief, but the relief will be as long as they let us earn our living”. However, he admits that his case is exceptional. “At home it is one of the few cases where there is relief”, he says.
The rancher Pau Barnés believes that farms “are not important because young people do not see a return on them”. “It must be attractive to those who stay behind. Anyone would be crazy to mortgage themselves in a job that means being a slave 365 days a year…», he says.
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