“I demand that distributors increase prices” milk in France, said this Sunday August 7 on franceinfo Christiane Lambert, the president of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA), the first agricultural union, while producers are suffering the full brunt of the drought.
franceinfo: Will we find milk in the fall and this winter in supermarkets?
Christian Lambert: We will find some, but it will be more expensive. Will we find enough? Everything will depend on how the peak of drought will unfold. But I ask that the distributors play the game, that they increase the prices of our products. In Germany, milk costs more than one euro, compared to 74 to 78 cents in France.
“We are the country where milk is the cheapest, which is incredible when all the costs are increasing. There is the drought of course, but also the crisis in Ukraine”
Christiane Lambert, President of the FNSEAfranceinfo
With the war in Ukraine, the cost of animal feed has increased, that of fuel has doubled, the price of fertilizers has tripled. So we arrive at high load levels.
The other crops are also suffering from the drought… Is there a risk of lack of certain fruits and vegetables?
We will not miss certain fruits, but there will be higher prices due to higher loads and lower production, linked to drought and heat waves. With the heat stroke, ripening happened extremely quickly, and for some producers, outlets did not go fast enough, which caused market congestion.
Maize is also very affected by the drought…
It is a plant that needs water now, and we are going to suffer extremely heavy losses. Hence the importance of maintaining irrigation, to save the production of certain fodder. I know it’s controversial, but water for agriculture is water for food. I think you have to think about it differently.
Store it more, for example?
Yes, when it is abundant. We have had torrential rains for several winters, and if we stored even 10% of the water that falls from the sky, instead of storing less than 2%, we would have enough. There is no debate about swimming pools and golf courses, we are told that it is essential for the profitability of these facilities. Well, it is essential for the profitability of farms to have water, to make fodder to feed the animals.