Glanbia urged to suspend milk penalties for rest of the year

The ICMSA has called on Glanbia to immediately suspend milk seasonality penalties for 2012 and allow farmers to plan for the rest of the year without the threat of fines relating to milk supplied in June or earlier.

Pat McCormack, deputy president and chairman of ICMSA’s dairy committee, said the atrocious weather conditions over the summer had thrown milk production patterns way off the norms and that the quality of much winter fodder is poor.

He said it was unfair and unworkable to suggest that farmers be forced to produce milk later this year simply to meet required percentages set down by Glanbia to avoid seasonality penalties.

Mr McCormack said: “ICMSA is being contacted by farmers from all over the Glanbia catchment area who are very concerned that they could be facing fines running into thousands of euro unless they continue to milk later into the year beyond their normal ‘drying-off’ date.

“They face the threat of having to produce milk unprofitably simply to avoid penalties. Farmers simply have enough on their plate at present dealing with weather problems, reduced product prices, and escalating costs, and Glanbia need to recognise the reality of 2012 and allow farmers to plan milk production for the rest of this year based on the realities on their farms rather than on arbitrary percentages.”

Meanwhile, the ICMSA has confirmed that all of the group’s county chairpersons, secretaries, and national council members in the Glanbia catchment area will meet at Kilkenny’s Springhill Court Hotel next Monday at 8pm to discuss the detail on Glanbia’s proposal for its plc and co-op to share future milk processing in a joint venture.