Milk in Europe is increasingly turning out to be a scarce commodity, which means that milk producers who want to change dairies have it much easier than a few years ago, according to the website agrarheute.com
The German portal reports that the FrieslandCampina dairy cooperative is opening its doors to new members and wants to support developing farms. The Members' Council approved appropriate changes in the rules for maintaining membership and financing the cooperative.
FrieslandCampina lost many milk suppliers
In recent years, FrieslandCampina has lost many milk suppliers. In 2023 alone, the number of milk producers who are members of the cooperative decreased by 510, or 5%, to 9,417. Since 2020, the volume of processed milk has decreased by almost 700 million kg, or 7%, to almost 9.37 billion kg .
read more
FrieslandCampina: multi-million loss, reduction of equity
FrieslandCampina suspends the initiation fee for new members
In order to remain one of the largest milk processors in Europe – with appropriate cost advantages – the dairy is waiving the entry fee for all new milk producers who want to join the cooperative, according to agrarheute.com.
According to the company, the combination of EUR 8 per 100 kg of milk for the purchase of milk certificates and an initiation fee of EUR 3 per 100 kg of milk was too high a cost for potential suppliers. The entrance fee will therefore be suspended retroactively from June 9, 2022 until July 1, 2026.
read more
How to quickly assess welfare in a barn? Summary cow welfare indicators
Larger milk producers receive an allowance
However, FrieslandCampina does not only focus on new members. The dairy decided to become more attractive also for current milk suppliers and, above all, for larger farms that want to develop.
Therefore, from next year, a subsidy will be implemented for producers who supply more than 1.5 million kg of milk per year. It is to be 50 cents for each 100 kg of surplus milk, according to a German portal.
Facilitating farm development
The group is also expanding regulations intended to facilitate the development of dairy farms. Specifically, it concerns simplified regulation of payments for milk producers who want to increase the volume of deliveries by more than 10 percent within a year. For these companies, the simplified regulation of the purchase of additional milk certificates, which was originally scheduled to expire at the end of 2024, will be extended for three years, as agrarheute.com emphasizes.
FrieslandCampina is also trying to encourage the younger generation of dairy farmers. Members who take over the business from January 2025 can defer the financing of milk certificates completely and without interest. Repayment is to be made on a straight-line basis over eight years. Alternatively, repayment over six years will be possible if the first two years are to remain repayment-free.
The changes are intended to enable "investing in the future"
Further relief concerns already deferred payments for milk certificates and the conversion of membership certificates into membership bonds. In addition, permanent membership bonds will be abolished and converted into free membership bonds, which is expected to improve their marketability.
Member of the board of the FrieslandCampina dairy cooperative, Nils den Besten, said that thanks to these activities the cooperative will become more attractive to new members. They also aim to provide existing members with new opportunities and support in terms of liquidity, growth and business acquisitions. “This enables members and the cooperative to invest in the future,” as Nils den Besten pointed out.
read more
Subsidies for low-emission milk. What rates are we talking about?
