The producers gathered at the Graciosa Island airfield and approached the President of the Regional Government, José Manuel Bolieiro, and the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Food, António Ventura, who are on a two-day statutory visit to the island, to whom they expressed their concerns.

Carlos Picanço, a milk producer and member of the board of the Graciosa Farmers Association, said that the current situation “is an injustice”, indicating that the island “has the lowest prices in the Azores and in Europe”.

“And we all know that we have won awards, we have a good product, we are open to improving the quality”, he said, admitting that there is something that “doesn’t work” on the island of Graciosa, in the Central group of the Azores.

Carlos Picanço asked for support from José Manuel Bolieiro's executive to help resolve the situation with Lactogal, which absorbs the milk produced on the island.

“We don’t have the strength and we’ve already seen that we can’t achieve this through dialogue. [We asked] for his support [to] try to see if we can overcome this phase,” he said.

According to the producer and manager, milk is sold in Graciosa at 37 cents per litre, with the aim of matching the price charged on other Azorean islands.

The president of the State Government told producers that they can count on the executive as an ally.

“We are seeking, in the agricultural policy that we have developed in the Azores and in the relationship with the productive economy, to enhance our capacity in the agricultural sector and in the livestock sector and in their productive capacity and then [of] transformation, industrialisation, and to create an ‘Azores Brand’ of excellence, as has been the case in our agriculture and in our farming”, he said.

And he continued: “We have also made this effort so that, in the value chain, [in] all chains, including the milk chain, there is a fair price. It has been part of our policy and my statement that in the value chain, there must be a fair price for everyone in that value chain and right from production.”

Bolieiro said that, on this trip to Graciosa, he will have a meeting with Lactogal and the producers “can count on the government as an ally”, admitting that through dialogue “an understanding can be reached”.

“The [Regional] Government is your ally in this just demand. He is available to be a spokesperson and, in dialogue with Lactogal, make Lactogal a partner in improving revenue and identifying a fair price. And let’s take that first step,” he said.

On Graciosa Island, there are more than two dozen milk producers, who produce around eight thousand liters per year, destined for the production of cheese at the Lactogal factory, according to data from the sector association.