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German dairy concerned about new government regulations
The German dairy industry, united in the Milchindustrie Verband (MIV), is very concerned about impending legislation and regulations from Berlin. In part to make farmers more mobile compared to processors and to tighten the rules for grazing/pasture milk. The latest nutritional advice is also a cause for concern.
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These points were raised by chairman Peter Stahl. He spoke at the annual Berliner Milchforum. According to Stahl, the government should listen better to practice and not try to do everything differently itself. According to him, a majority of German dairy farmers do not want any change in the existing contractual relationships with the dairy industry.
Yet, with Article 148 of the EU Common Market Organization in hand, the government is pushing ahead with a change in regulations so that farmers can much more easily organize themselves differently in relation to the industry.
Grazing
Stahl also calls it strange and undesirable that the government wants to independently adjust the conditions for meadow milk. "In Europe, practice agrees on a minimum of 120 days times 6 hours, but our government wants to make it stricter, with all kinds of additional conditions and thus opt for a national Alleingang."
The MIV is also unhappy with the latest nutritional advice from the Deutche Gesellschaft für Ernährung (DGE), i.e. the German Food Agency, which recommends using less food of animal origin, but filling three quarters of the need with vegetable food. According to the MIV, there are major scientific doubts about this.