I just stumbled upon this
representation in the world.
It seems that the dark green corresponds to the gross margin but I have some questions about its calculation because the representation does not present the cost of each step but good ....
If all that is right, I make two findings hot:
1 - It is better to be a distributor than a farmer (but that we already knew) because in cumulated distributor + radius we arrive at 45% of margin. It is very well paid distributor !!!
2 - It is better to be a processor than a farmer. Here we talk about turning milk into ... milk not cheese, butter, cream or other. 25% to go from a whole milk in bulk to a semi skimmed milk cardboard or bottle, I think it is well paid too ....
For the second part, processors and distributors seem less greedy except that they are often the same (see organization of intermarket for example).
Otherwise, concerning the cost price, I have a cousin who told me that for his parents' farm that he wanted to take over he had to sell his milk for 3 francs per liter (it goes up a bit). They had 40 groins of dairy cows which they took to the fields. They also had silage stocks (probably in addition).
I do not know if they were part of the big farms (I think not) but when the retirement sounded for his parents, he did not take it because not enough quotas and bought another next.
Today with 32 cts, I do not know if he is doing (without the subsidies in any case).
When I went to look for it at the end of the internship, I asked the farmer why he did not do direct processing and sales himself, precisely to improve his margin level and not depend on purchasing centers much more powerful than him. . The answer is quite simple: you can't improvise "cheese".
I do not know if it is a good example, if they are doing better than the others but this is what we find in my village.
http://www.fermeduchardonnet.fr/produits?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_Perso.tpl&product_id=31&category_id=5
Maybe a track to dig for you and your daughter ...