The price of milk in France will continue to rise due to the drought

Dairy

France

Published Aug 9, 2022

Tridge summary

Already at a very high level, the price of milk will increase further due to the ongoing historic drought in France, as farmers no longer have enough grass to feed their cows, with cascading consequences on the whole Dairy products. In one year, a succession of shocks fueled inflation on food products, between the rapid post-Covid recovery and the war in Ukraine. For dairy products, the price of yoghurts increased by 4.5% between June 2021 and June 2022, semi-skimmed milk in cartons or bottles by 4.5%, butter by 9.8% and cheese from 5.2%.

Original content

Global warming has also had a very concrete impact. First there was an abnormally hot and dry month of May, then three heat waves in June, July and early August. The drought is "the worst in the last 70 years", notes Christian Huyghe, scientific director of Agriculture at Inrae. As a result, grass production fell by 21% on July 20 compared to normal, at a time when dairy cows feed largely on pasture, according to data from Agreste, the statistical service of the Ministry of Agriculture. 'Agriculture. When the grass in the meadows is no longer green, three options are available to herders: dip into their stocks of fodder planned for the winter, buy animal feed, or sell part of the herd to reduce their costs. . As feed prices for dairy cows increased by 25.9% in May compared to May 2021 according to Agreste, many breeders agree that the most profitable thing is to part with some of their animals. There will still be milk on the shelves, but a "lack of milk" could be felt, believes ...

Source: Bfmtv