These farmers are sticking it to the man — with powered milk

Pissed off farmers sprayed milk powder on a government building to protest over production of milk in the European Union which is costing thousands of jobs and even lives. French officials say up to 200 farmers commit suicide every year. But an independent researcher says it's closer to 600 farmer suicide a year large part due to the stress of struggling farms and bankruptcy. Some French farmers only make $215-320 for 80 hours of work. Things got bad in 2015, when the European Union lifted quotas on dairy production. The change was meant to help farmers grow their businesses but it backfired badly. Farmers across Europe began making way too much milk. As a result, the prices of milk fell dramatically and farmers started making less money than they were spending on production. Recently, the EU bought over 550,000 tons of powdered milk hoping it would allow the market to recover. But now, the EU want to sell that milk powder and farmers are worried it will make milk prices even lower. "If we came today from France to Brussels it is to show politicians behind us that their decision of completely liberalizing agriculture is making our agriculture die and also that of emerging countries. So the protest with milk powder is very symbolic because it is excess which is killing us at home and in Africa" says Adrien Lefevre a French milk producer. The EU has said it will only sell some of the powdered milk and has promised it won't affect the market's stability.