European agriculture ministers will meet on October 5th in Brussels to try again to come up with something to help E.U. dairy farmers. The ministers came up empty at a meeting on September 7th, unable to agree on any type of aid package for producers. Farmers have dumped milk all over Europe in protest of low prices and E.U. policy. Most recently, Spanish farmers dumped 60,000 liters on Wednesday.
While world economic woes have contributed to low milk prices around the globe, European producers say the problem has been made worse by a change in E.U. policy last November which increased the milk production quotas for member nations as part of an eventual phase-out of the quotas. Producers say that is contributing to overproduction.
The European Commission announced last week it would allow member countries to pay producers up to $22,000 per year in the form of direct aid. At least 19 countries are supporting a plan from France and Germany which would push prices higher for milk, butter, cheese and nonfat dry milk.
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