October 20, 2009
EU to provide financial aid to dairy sector
The EU will give EUR280 million (US$419.2 million) to dairy farmers in an effort to help alleviate the pressure on the industry, according to agricultural commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.
It is unclear yet how the money will be spent.
Dairy farmers in the EU are struggling to survive due to low milk prices, with the current farm milk gate price per litre below the cost price for a litre of milk.
The situation has become so bad that dairy farmers across Europe have gone on protests, particularly over the perceived lack of action from Brussels.
More than 40,000 farmers in eight European countries have also stopped supplying milk, with a number of dairy farmers preferring to dump their milk than to sell it at the loss-making low prices.
