Today marks the fourth day of an ongoing conflict over milk prices between dairy farmers and milk industries in Santa Fe and Córdoba. A blockage has affected 30 industries, and an estimated 160,000 litres of milk were thrown out in one day, bringing the total to 4 million litres of discarded milk since the conflict began.
The milk was dumped due to the decreasing lack of storage space, and the risk of it passing spoilage dates.
The industry blockage stems from farmers’ growing discontent over their milk’s selling price. For the past two years, dairy farmers have been selling milk to production industries at a price of $1.50 per litre. But with the rising price of store-bought milk now at $5, farmers are asking for a selling price of $1.80 minimum.
Santa Fe’s provincial government notified the national government of the need for mediation in the conflict. A previous attempt by the Santa Fe provincial government to bring together the dairy industries, farmers and national government failed. The industries did not send their representatives and Arturo Videla, National Subsecretary of Dairy Production, seemed to have abandoned the initiative to resolve the dispute.
“We are the province worst affected by the conflict, because we have more than 20 plants blocked,” said Santa Fe’s Minister of Production, Carlos Fascendini.
Gustavo Colombero, President of the Santa Fe’s Dairy Farmers Federation, said, “We’re at a standstill, and if producers can’t see a short-term solution, we are going to continue blocking the industries.”
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