Western models don't work in Greece

I know that ZH are a good bunch of investigative reporters,
but they doesn't know much about Greece and its economics.

You'll see from this that milk costs too much in a country with
a 30% drop in its GDP. What they're forgetting that Greeks
were never accustomed to fresh milk in urban areas, until the
last 30 years; one generation. Greece is a country which, for
the most part is too hot to supply enough grass to feed cows.
Greeks occasionally bought imported evaporated milk from
Holland.

So, naturally, some forward thinking guys have brought in
cattle feed which is invariable from the Americas and is
GMO crap. That is lawful, but they just don't tell us.
I found out from a news program, just recently.
So, was Greece winning because it had milk? 

Or, is this article a sign that Greece needs to open up
for competition. I'm guessing from the article that these
farmers all have houses in Monaco, so they don't care
about inflation in Greece @sarc.
They're surviving, but if you open up the Greek market
it will just mean more unemployed Greek farmers and
more importing of expensive food products.

Small countries don't need the Euro or globalisation.

Checkit:  Zerohedge

[You'd think, looking at the title that suicides are up, because milk is too expensive]

Greek Milk Costs More Than Anywhere Else In Europe As Suicide Rate Rises By 37%

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/22/2012 13:56 -0500

That Greek suicide rates have exploded over the past two years is very much expected: after all, in order to preserve the sanctity of the failed monetary status quo, the Greek economy and its less than prosperous population have been sacrificed by the legacy elite and the wealthy. The socio-economic collapse has resulted in a total crash in economic production of goods and services, an nosebleed-inducing unemployment rate which increasing at a mindboggling 1% per month, and the rise of neo-nazism, with the Golden Dawn party now the third most popular political organization in the country (and rising rapidly). Sure enough, Kathimerini has confirmed that the" Greece's suicide rate increased by 37 percent between 2009 - 2011, To Pontiki newspaper reported quoting police data. The data, which was presented in Parliament by Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias following a request by SYRIZA MPs, showed that 3,124 suicides and attempted suicides have occurred in the debt-stricken country since 2009, the weekly newspaper said." As noted, no surprise in this very tragic headline on the day in which the world's still wealthiest nation gives gratitude for all its "wealth."

...[THE LAWS FOR FARMERS] Cost of milk in Greece a problem for consumers and producers

To understand why milk costs more in Greek shops than anywhere else in the European Union, Stathis Aravanis's farm is a good place to start.

Tall elm trees screen the 4 hectares (10 acres) of land that Aravanis farms outside the small town of Orchomenos in central Greece, not far from the ancient city of Thebes. The silence is broken only by the sound of grazing cattle and a passing tractor.

Each day 200 or so cows produce 5.5 tons of milk that he has been selling to Delta, a division of food conglomerate Vivartia, since 1990. Delta, which collects the milk every two days, pays him 45 euro cents a liter.

That is in line with the average farm-gate price in Greece of 44.79 cents, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistics office. Only in Finland, Malta and Cyprus is the price higher.

Aravanis said his running costs made it impossible to produce more cheaply.

His farm is too small for him to grow fodder for his total herd of 440 animals, so he has to buy in clover, maize, oats, hay and soya, which is imported from the United States.

"If the price fell to 40 cents none of us would be able to survive. We are barely getting by at these prices,» he said.

Aravanis reserves his harshest criticism for government bureaucrats, who he says make it hard for farmers to obtain land permits to expand and reap economies of scale. «It's not as if cows are going to be grazing in their living room,» he said.

...[CONSUMERS WITHOUT MONEY FOR THE MOST EXPENSIVE MILK IN EUROPE] At the other end of the dairy chain stand Greek shoppers, who wonder why they have to pay around 1.50 euros for a liter of fresh milk.

Agnes Papadopoulou, 46, a mother of two young children who lost her job as an accountant in January, stopped buying fresh milk months ago because she could no longer afford it.

"It's too expensive. It's impossible to get by when you need two liters a day, plus bread, plus food, never mind all the bills and taxes we have to pay. Fresh milk is a luxury,» Papadopoulou said, pushing a trolley stacked with pasta, lentils and tinned food in an Athens supermarket.

Attempting direct comparisons with prices elsewhere in Europe is treacherous because so many variables are in play, such as transport costs, rents and consumer preferences.

But Eurostat says the price in Greece of dairy produce -- milk, cheese and eggs -- was 31.5 percent above the EU average in 2011, the highest in Europe.

Greek dairy firms say they charge a fair price and their sector is one of the least profitable due to high costs.

But many Greeks assume that milk prices are rigged, a suspicion reinforced by a fine of 75 million euros that the Competition Commission slapped on several firms in 2007 for fixing prices between themselves and with supermarkets.

...[GLOBALISATION REARS ITS HEAD Dairy farmers oppose a long-standing proposal to extend the shelf life of milk to 10 days, as is common elsewhere in Europe.

This could be done relatively simply in the pasteurisation process, but Skordas said cattle breeders feared -- unnecessarily, in his opinion -- that this would open the door to increased competition from imported milk.