agreste

Agreste cahiers

Average prices for milk paid to producers in 2000 and 2004 fell, whether or not milk is the main production of the farm. The factors analysed in this study include the size of the farms, the region and the presence of quality labels.

The diversity in prices paid to producers for their milk is widening. It reflects differences in production choices concerning the quality of the milk (composition, production conditions) and in markets. The effects of the region where the milk is produced or of farm size on price dispersion are less than the effects of the quality of staple dairy products.
In the case of specialised professional “cattle-milk” dairy farms, revenue per hectolitre increases between 2000 and 2004, despite the fall in prices. Enhancing the value of milk is more sensitive to the presence of quality certification than to size of the farm.
In terms of return on capital, performance of the different channels is similar. Large farms have a greater profitability than the others in 2004 despite lower profit margins. Profitability of farms producing milk for AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) products reaches that of productions without labels of quality certification. Farms producing with a professional quality label show the highest profits in 2004.