Malaga Farmers throwing away milk

Malaga farmers are having to throw milk away due to costs.

Farmers from various parts of Malaga say they are heartbroken at having to throw away the milk. They say the prices aren’t high enough at the production stage and they are in conflict with the multinational company Puleva which wants them to sign contracts with a 9 cent per litre of milk reduction.

One farmer from Alozaina who has around 100 milking cows said the new price would mean immediate losses for the farmers. He said, “If we continue like this, we won’t be able to last long.”

The farmer has already sent four cows for slaughter this week and in a month, he will be forced to send the rest for laughter too.

A spokesperson for the agricultural association COAG said: “The times of slavery are over, but the farmers have no other option than to throw away the milk.”It is a perishable product, so if we can’t sell it it is no longer suitable for consumption.”

In some cases, farmers who belong to a cooperative of farmers have been able to relocate 50 per cent of the milk to small cheese factories throughout Spain, but farmers who don’t have this option are having to throw away the milk Puleva is refusing to buy.

The production of milk isn’t suffering, however, because supplies are being brought in from France.

Grupo Lactalis who own Puleva stated that they have had weeks of negotiations and two modifications of the offer put forward, but the collaborating farms in Andalucia “exceed the average price of milk in Europe and Spain.”