Suffering for the animals, a high price, insufficient supervision and above all a control mechanism in the dairy industry that makes it the most expensive in the world (Photo: ShutterStock)
At the wonderful timing of a day after the rise of the monitored dairy products and a few hours after Tanuva announced an average increase of 4.65% in the prices of the non-monitored products, when in practice most of them increased at a rate of between 6% and 9%, the State Comptroller, Nidho Engelman, publishes a scathing audit report About the dairy industry in Israel.
As we published in Vala, the gap between the price of a liter of normal milk in Israel, and the average price in OECD countries, stands at 77%, despite the fact that the Israeli cow produces the largest amount of milk in the world. The main reason: the planning of the dairy industry through state supervision On the quantities of its production, according to the quotas of the producers, the price paid by the dairies per liter of milk, the extent of the import of dairy products and the dairy products under supervision.
The auditor found that the price of raw milk in Israel is about 62 euros (per hundred kilos of milk), while in the European Union the price is 24% lower and is estimated at 50 euros, and this is where the essential difference lies.
The main deficiencies in the industry, according to Engelman, stem from the state's poor regulation of the price of milk, which, as mentioned, is higher than most European countries.
The supports given to the dairy farmers are indirect supports, according to advance planning, and not direct supports, to which the World Trade Organization pledged to switch years ago.
Another problematic area is animal welfare.
20% of the barns are in a poor sanitary condition and animal welfare is very poor.
Cows in the barn.
Give the highest yield in the world and receive poor living conditions in return (Photo: ShutterStock)
Crying over spilled milk
The shortage of milk during the Jewish holidays is also criticized: "It was found that in 2021, the shortage amounted to three million liters of pasteurized milk, which is 9% of the average monthly consumption of pasteurized milk," the report says.
Engelman recommends that as long as there is planning in the dairy industry in Israel, the ministries of agriculture and finance should analyze the factors that affect its high costs, and examine ways to improve efficiency in the industry, among other things by reducing milk spillage, and reducing the target price in such a way as to lower the final price of milk and its products and preserve on its quality.
"It is also recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance work to implement the recommendations of the OECD and the recommendations of the State Comptroller from 2018, with regard to the transition from indirect supports to direct supports in the dairy industry."
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State Comptroller, Matanyahu Engelman.
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Gives milk, gets bad treatment in return
A significant chapter in the report deals with the poor condition of the animals.
On this topic, the auditor writes that animal cruelty was caused due to the poor living conditions of the cows and that the visualization does not do enough to reduce their suffering, among other things due to a lack of supervision.
The auditor calls for tightening the supervision on this issue and making the dairy farms improve and become more efficient in a way that will benefit the animals as well.
No one falls out of their chair when they read the report, certainly not the previous Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Finance, Oded Forer and Avigdor Lieberman, respectively, who tried to reform the milk market, dismantle the Milk Council and switch to direct subsidies. This reform, like the reform in agriculture, was met with resistance Almost violent by the farmers, who were not ready to have their cheese moved even by a millimeter and therefore we all continue to pay an exorbitant price for dairy products.
As it seems right now, the dust will also gather on this auditor's report, the agricultural businessmen will continue to talk about Zionism and "food security, the cows will continue to suffer from poor living conditions, terrible wages for their enormous milk yield and we will still miss paying less than seven shekels for a carton of milk.
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Matanyahu Engelman