Question 15363 — breeding

Summary

Mr. Édouard Bénard draws the attention of the Minister of Agriculture, Agri-Food and Food Sovereignty to the dairy crisis which is affecting French producers. Producers have experienced a severe drop in milk prices since January 2026, with a loss of nearly 100 euros per 1,000 liters in one year, while production costs are increasing, particularly those of GNR. The reason for this sharp decline is clear: global and particularly European overproduction. Indeed, even though the dairy herd is decreasing, milk production in European countries is increasing thanks to the intensification of production and productivity per cow: +5% of milk collected in Europe in 2025 compared to 2024. Faced with this, demand is not keeping up and Europe once again finds itself in a context of dairy overproduction. There The global economy follows the same dynamic, with +6.5 billion liters of milk collected at the start of 2026 compared to the previous year, in the five major exporting zones (United States of America, New Zealand, Australia, European Union and Argentina). In France, cooperatives and manufacturers have implemented significant reductions in the price of milk paid to producers. Prices plummet even more quickly in other European countries, such as in Belgium, where the price fell to 300 euros/1,000 liters at LDA. On the occasion of the Agriculture Council of the European Union on March 30, 2026, Belgium, supported by five other member states, placed the dairy crisis on the agenda. These countries requested the activation of emergency measures, in particular a voluntary reduction in production financed by the European crisis reserve, as well as an increase in the intervention price (guaranteed minimum price at European level). Volume regulation and its management are inseparable from price protection and, therefore, peasant income. However, there are fears that voluntary regulation will not be enough to halt the fall in the price of milk. Also, a mandatory reduction in volumes, up to the 2024 production for each producer (excluding organic farming and quality sectors), appears essential today. This reduction in volumes should also be accompanied by an increase in the intervention price. More generally, it appears essential to initiate, as soon as possible, a reflection aimed at reworking market regulation and the protection of producer organizations, within the framework of the current reforms of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and the CMO. (Common market organization). The Minister was alerted by representatives of farmers' unions, in particular the Confédération Paysanne, ahead of the meeting of the Agriculture Council of the European Union, of the seriousness of the situation and the need to urgently activate crisis management tools. To date, the Government has remained silent on this subject, even though several member states have supported these proposals. This lack of reaction is incomprehensible for French dairy producers, who today struggle to make a decent living from their work. Faced with a worsening crisis, he asks him to specify what solutions the Government intends to implement to protect dairy producers from this crisis.

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