Record numbers of farmers leave Campina in Friesland

Between July 2021 and July 2022, 284 farmers left multinational dairy conglomerate FrieslandCampina. The previous record set between 2018 and 2019 was 230 departures reported by the Dutch Milk Foundation (DMF).

One of the main reasons for departure, according to DMF, is the so-called “new member loan”, which requires new and young farmers who are growing rapidly to purchase a delivery certificate. These certificates cost 8 cents per kilo of milk. This is a fairly high cost, especially for beginning dairy farmers.

The DMF not only provides statistics on the operations of Dutch farmers, but also acts as an agency representing farmers’ interests by checking the compliance of conglomerates such as FrieslandCampina with the conditions set by the European Commission. . That is, following the merger of Friesland Foods and Campina in 2008, the commission decided that the conglomerate would make his 1.2 billion kilos of milk available on the free market, and that farmers who leave would receive a premium of 5 cents per kilo of milk. requested that

Since the 2008 merger, a total of 724 farmers have decided to end their relationship with Friesland Campina at the cost of 832 million kilograms of milk. The conglomerate currently represents approximately 10,500 dairy farms producing nearly 10 billion kilograms of milk annually.

Many of the farmers who left have switched to rival dairy conglomerate A-ware, said Rob Hessing, secretary of the DMF. Rewarder CoolantHowever, at the time of this writing, no exact numbers and specific statements regarding transfers have been made public.

Friesland Campina recently celebrated its 150th anniversary.^th Anniversary and one of the leading dairy conglomerates not only in Holland but also in continental Europe. How record farm losses will affect the dairy giant will become clear in the coming weeks.