Belgian farmers stage milky protest

Three million litres of fresh milk were poured over roads and fields as farmers staged a widespread protest over lowered dairy prices.

The CBC reports farmers in Belgium used about 300 tractors to dump a day's work of milk production over plowed fields in southern Belgium. Dairy farmers also covered roads close to Ciney with milk. "It is a scandal to dump this, but we have to realize what the situation is," Belgian farm leader Erwin Schoepges told the CBC. "We need a farm revolt." The milk farmers were apparently motivated by the drop in milk prices, which are so low the farmers were forced to sell at half the production cost. This meant farmers were unable to pay their bills. Since this spring, milk prices have dropped 40 percent; if a solution is not found, European dairy farms can lose the equivalent of $14 billion this year. Farmers have also blocked Belgian border crossings to the Netherlands and to Germany. While the majority of the EU members want to strengthen milk prices, so far they are unable to agree on how that can be done.