Some Spanish dairy farmers have responded to the plunging price of fresh milk by selling the product in vending machines, cutting out the middlemen and boosting income amid the economic crisis.
One such machine was installed in the middle of last month in a market of the northeastern town of Salt by a local farm that has 500 cows and a daily production of 17,000 liters.
The machine, which has a capacity of 375 liters, is often empty by mid-morning, said Maria Bosch, one of the farm’s owners.
PHOTO: AFP
“We are selling about 700 liters a day,” she said.
The Italian-made device works like a coffee machine — the customer places a jug or bottle under the tap, puts 1 euro (US$1.33) in the slot and receives a liter of fresh milk.
“Quality, freshness and good prices, that’s what people are increasingly looking for,” said Jordi Fontanals, the market’s manager.
“That’s why we decided to set this up in here,” Fontanals told reporters.
This week, he plans to put in a second one. Others have recently been installed or are planned elsewhere in the northeastern region of Catalonia and in the Basque Country and Asturias in the north, all major milk producing regions.
Italian farmers also operate about 1,500 of them throughout the country.
The dairy farmers are responding to the fall in the price of milk, which has halved on average in Europe in the past 18 months.
A number of EU nations have called for milk production quotas slated for removal to be kept in place for now, saying the sector is fighting for survival because of plunging prices.
There have also been protests in a number of eastern EU nations and the German milk producers’ federation BDM has not ruled out “milk strikes” following similar action last year.
But by going straight to the customers, the Spanish dairy farmers can sell their milk at a higher price than through the big food processing companies.
The milk vending machine has been a boon to the small town of Salt, located in a rich agricultural region north of Barcelona.
“Some towns refused to use the machine and now they regret it as they have seen how successful it is,” said Xavier Codina, another partner in the dairy farm.
At the Salt market, people line up to buy milk throughout the day.
“Last night at almost midnight there were still people using it,” Codina said.
“This is a return to a healthy tradition: starting the day with a fresh product like milk,” said the mayor of Salt, Yolanda Pineda, as she came to fill up a bottle from the machine, accompanied by her husband and two-year-old son.
“I am very happy because this has become very good news at a time when we need good news,” Pineda said.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS