IFA meeting to discuss liquid milk 'crisis'

The Irish Farmers Association’s dairy branch is meeting in Kilkenny today to discuss what it has described as crisis in the liquid milk sector.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, IFA spokesman Donal Kelleher said Irish milk needed to be promoted in order to avoid problems experienced in the UK.

He said British milk had been seriously devalued due to vicious price wars that were harming dairy farmers financially.

Mr Kelleher said: "Almost all of the milk (in the UK) is now handled through retail outlets in own-brand form.

"That takes control away from the processors and the farmers and puts it all in the hands of the retailers and that’s the issue we don’t want to happen in this country."