European Union leaders are standing by their policy to use geographical indications to unfairly grant their food producers a huge commercial advantage. Results of an Informa economic analysis shows that GI policy if allowed to go forward will cost the U.S. Dairy Industry $ 59 billion in revenues over 10 years. National Milk Producer Federation’s President and CEO Jim Mulhern says the GI Indicators involve several commonly used food product names.
He says at today’s prices the decline in U.S. cheese consumption due to the loss of those common food names could amount to $ 2.3 billion in lost sales in three years and even more in ten years.
Mulhern says by 2025, U.S. dairy farmers would lose up to 15 percent of their income and the U.S. dairy herd would shrink by up to 9 percent or 850,000 cows which would force many dairy producers out of business.
Mulhern adds that the Geographic Indicators also effect not only dairy products but also meats and wines. He says they’ve been working on this problem for the past four years and the E.U. refuses to budge on the issue.
