Barriers to organic milk production

Abstract

This paper describes barriers to production of the organic milk. There was conducted a survey among conventional producers of cow’s milk. Based on the identified barriers to organic milk production and farmers’ opinions on them there were identified the most important barriers. The most important barrier to the production of organic milk in Vysočina region is considered to be the lack of price premiums for organic milk produced. The price premium is currently around 0.40 CZK per litre of organic milk. Farmers require a minimum price premium 1 CZK per litre, respectively 30 % increase of the price of milk. The higher price premium may serve as a motivation, which could eliminate the second major barrier - satisfaction with the current production. Problematic contact with suppliers has been identified as the third most important barrier by surveyed firms. Buyers do not respect the agreed purchase price (premium price). Partial barrier to organic milk production, according to surveyed farmers is the lack of the necessary amount of concentrated feed in the quality of organic milk.

Keywords

• organic milk
• barriers to production
• organic farming
• region Vysočina