The project of the dairy giant Lactalis (President, Lactel, Galbani) to buy less milk from French breeders this Thursday reignited the anger of the agricultural world, which denounced an “unscrupulous” industrialist. From Thursday morning, the boss of the first agricultural organization FNSEA set the tone, evoking an “explosion for the dairy sector” in France, while the world of livestock farming, already weakened, is threatened by animal diseases.
The French herd will de facto be reduced
“For us, the challenge this morning is to ensure that milk producers continue to find someone who will collect their milk,” Arnaud Rousseau told France Info radio, judging that it was “too early » to estimate the number of cows that could disappear, while the herd is already decreasing due to lack of young people taking over.
The multinational, which claims the title of the world’s leading dairy group, announced Wednesday evening the reduction “of the order of 450 million liters” on an annual collection “of some 5.1 billion liters” of milk from French breeders , gradually, from the end of 2024 and until 2030. This represents almost 9% less volume.
Lactalis, an “unscrupulous” industrialist for the FNSEA
The National Federation of Milk Producers (FNPL), a specialized section of the FNSEA, denounced an “unscrupulous” industrialist and an “unacceptable” disengagement. During an interview with its president, Yohann Barbe, the new Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard “assured him of her full support and commitment alongside producers to maintain dairy activity on the farms concerned”, according to a press release. of the ministry.
The Confédération paysanne, which had taken over the Mayenne headquarters of Lactalis in February, deplores in a press release “the structural economic dependence of producers on dairies”.
A way to put pressure after the Egalim laws
“This reduction in collection serves Lactalis to eliminate producers and put pressure on those who remain. The fear of a cessation of collection prevents legitimate demands to improve the income of breeders, estimates the organization classified on the left.
Since the various Egalim laws, supposed to protect agricultural raw materials, the group is in a hurry to pay breeders more. But France exports more milk than it consumes. Half of the milk collected in the country by Lactalis goes to international markets (particularly in powder form), which fluctuate very much.
“The markets collapsed. We paid more for milk than we sold it” on these exported products, said a spokesperson for the group. Clearly, for Lactalis, the drop in volumes is the counterpart of a better price for each tonne of milk.
Brittany and Normandy spared
The group will first reduce its collection “in the eastern and southern Pays de Loire zones”, thus sparing the major producing regions, Brittany and Normandy. “We don’t break contracts. But we want to work very early with producer organizations on the support modalities, once the contracts expire,” said the spokesperson.
A “regrettable” or “incomprehensible” strategy for dairy farmers in Meurthe-et-Moselle and Bas-Rhin. “Their goal must be to import foreign milk which will end up in President butter. The consumer will see nothing,” anticipates Daniel Perrin, who owns 80 dairy cows in Fraimbois (Meurthe-et-Moselle).
For the FNPL, “it is not possible that producers have only twelve months ahead of them to turn around”. The federation “firmly asks Lactalis, in the interest of producers, for a much longer period of time to identify alternatives”.
Related News :