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Krefeld (dpa / lnw) - The state association of the dairy industry fears that farm deaths in North Rhine-Westphalia will accelerate without significant increases in income for farmers.
The dairy farmers' revenues were at the level of 40 years ago, despite significantly increased costs, for example for environmental protection, energy and wages, said co-chairman Wilhelm Brüggemeier in an online press conference on Wednesday.
According to an estimate by the association, the average price paid by the dairies to the dairy farmers fell slightly in 2020 by 1.4 percent to 32.19 cents per kilogram of conventionally produced milk.
After the farmers' protests against price cuts in the grocery trade, Brüggemeier complained about an imbalance between trading giants with great market power on the one hand and dairies and farmers on the other.
"I'm happy about the protests our colleagues have made," he said.
Significant improvements are difficult to achieve, however.
"We need a change in antitrust law here."
The focus should not only be on the wellbeing of consumers, but also on the wellbeing of farmers and processing companies.
Co-chairman Hans Stöcker criticized the discounter Aldi in particular for lowering the price of butter in recent weeks.
The world market was relatively stable.
Last year, according to the association, another 215 dairy farms gave up in North Rhine-Westphalia.
This corresponds to a decrease of four percent to 5166 dairy farmers.
This is 88 percent less than in 1980.
An average of 76 dairy cows are now kept per farm, compared to only 14 in 1980. According to the regional association, many farms are about a generation change.
The conventionally produced milk volume in North Rhine-Westphalia rose by 1.7 percent in the first ten months of last year despite the sharp decline among dairy farmers.