Draft EU milk regulations do little to protect farmers, groups claim

EUROPEAN Union draft regulations on milk published yesterday do little to protect farmers against unfair retail pricing and future market fluctuations, say Ireland’s main dairy farmer groups.

IFA national dairy committee chairman, Kevin Kiersey, said the draft regulations did little to oblige Europe’s retailers to return a fair margin.

He said the draft regulations, announced by EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos to the EU Parliament, will not deliver on proposals from the High Level Group on Milk to give farmers greater retail bargaining power.