European Parliament
Jim Higgins  (PPE ).
(GA)
Mr President, I welcome this report and I would like to thank Mr Jim Nicholson for the hard work he has done on it. However, a lot more needs to be done to obtain fair prices for dairy farmers. This report is important because it is the first step towards strengthening farmers’ marketing power and changing the rules to allow farmers to set their own contractual terms with dairies in relation to various matters, especially in relation to prices. Currently, farmers must deal with very powerful companies who want to obtain the very best produce, on the one hand, but also pay a lower price, on the other. Farmers must also give cheap credit while becoming overdrawn on their personal bank accounts. In terms of milk quotas, we must do a lot more to secure a soft landing given the pressure farmers will be under when this new policy is implemented.

