Following a high level conference on the future of the EU dairy sector, farm lobby groups have called on legislators to facilitate growth in the dairy industry.

Having presented its vision for the post-2015 dairy industry at the conference on Tuesday, organised by the European Commission, Copa-Cogeca milk party chair Mansel Raymond said, "Faced with the phasing out of milk quotas in 2015, there will be both opportunities and challenges - like bad weather conditions, extreme market volatility, high production costs. Many member states were particularly affected by severe weather conditions this year, with serious floods. In order to cope with the challenges ahead and benefit from the opportunities which will arise from increasing world demand, milk producers need to be able to avoid extreme volatility, need a better income and need the right conditions in place for optimum milk production across the EU."

Copa-Cogeca welcomed the findings of an EU report, which suggested a range of tools to help the industry transition into the more market-driven model which will be the new post-quota norm. Raymond gave his support for the new marketised sector, saying market measures, such as public intervention, private storage, futures markets (which he said would reduce volatility) and insurance systems.

The new EU milk package being touted by the Commission aims to strengthen contractual relations between farmers and processors and improve farmers’ position, theoretically enabling them to get a better price for their milk. In France efforts are already underway to strengthen the position of unions and cooperatives, in a bid to ensure farmers are able to work together and ensure they are not exploited by large milk processors and retailers.

Copa recognised the potential for disequilibrium in a liberalised dairy sector and said the Commission's package is "important with producers up against the huge buying power of a few retailers."

Although measures to reduce volatility and counterbalance the influence of larger players have been introduced on a compulsory basis in France, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, Slovakia, Italy, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, throughout the rest of the EU, including the UK, measures remain purely voluntary.

Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen added, "The EU will be in a good position to meet the increased demand for dairy produce on world markets, especially from emerging economies, as long as trade agreements are balanced. But this is not the case in the trade liberalising talks between the EU and Canada which are in their final stages of negotiation. We feel that the talks are unbalanced and must be improved. In particular, we don't get much return on the dairy sector. We cannot accept that in return for giving increased market access for substantial volumes of beef meat and pigmeat, that has been negotiated by the European Commission and the Canadian government."

Milk group chair Mansel Raymond also called on EU negotiators to promote dairy farmers' interests in trade talks between the bloc and Canada, the US and other potential partners. He said action in the dairy sector is vital "after more than a quarter of a million European dairy farmers had left the industry since 2007." The Copa and NFU leader cited "Low and volatile milk prices, environmental regulation and little potential to grow" as the main reasons for producers selling-up.

Turning to the situation in the UK, Mr Raymond said, "Priority should be given to the full implementation of the milk package. Contractual relations play a vital role in giving more predictability to milk producers as far as the volume, price and duration are concerned.

"For too long producers have had no choice but to sell milk below the cost of production - this is unacceptable. We need the EU to use whatever tools it can to help the market work properly so as to deliver a fair and sustainable price to milk producers."