Text: Andreas Affolter; Photo: Urs Lindt
The pressed powder milk moved to me on the assembly line, I take the tablets and fill it from the packaging. These must be air-and water-tight, as the milk a long journey in Third World countries has before him. That was the beginning of the eighties, I worked as a student at a Swiss dairy. Even then, the amount of milk, which exceeded domestic demand, exports at dumping prices. Today, the Milk Lake is greater than ever. The lobby of the dairy farmers make political pressure for the federal government reintroduces the milk quota - this one and a half years after the lifting of the state volume regulation. The free market works to their bosses, complaining the producers. The background: Because too much milk is produced, decreases and decreases the dairy price. Whether this problem is solved by old wine in new bottles - sorry: old milk in new pots - filled, may be doubted.
a recommendation to the address of the farmers is: "Sell your products directly. So you replaced the final price. "Also, this approach is anything but new. I grew up in the Canton Solothurn Plateau. Ten minutes walk away from my parents house was a courtyard. Every evening the farmer made the rounds through the village, at the stops, he poured the housewives and their messengers, the white liquid into Chesseli. It was real milk: my mother never bought cream, but that could siphon off the top. And I knew where the milk came. When walking with the dog I was always in the yard and watched the milking, had turned on the radio Beromünster. One day there was a different owner. The new agriculture was the tour through the village soon to elaborate, he went rather non-stop in the cheese shop. Meanwhile, the wind has turned again: general, acknowledged the value of direct marketing. The aforementioned Bauer has opened a farm shop, he takes part in the weekly market in nearby towns. "From the region" is in vogue. And part of drug users is willing to pay a higher price.
As a father I have become accustomed to purchase price-conscious. I no longer post Fresh milk in Chesseli but uperisierte, homogenized and standardized milk in Tetra-cheap bulk packs. In each case, immediately after getting up I drink a cup of coffee. Also in other countries, where milk is not among the basic food, I need the morning ration. Sometimes I make the price comparison with the drink, I like the evening best: beer. In my second homeland, the Dominican Republic, milk is five times more expensive. Maybe I should use my relationships, so that the excess Swiss milk is powdered and shipped dirt cheap in the Caribbean. Or do I change my habits and start the day involving a beer.
more about this: Print Edition "Labor market" 10/2010
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