Cut in skim milk powder price serious challenge to industry

THE Irish Dairy Board’s skim milk powder price cut from €1,923 to €1,873 per tonne continues the three-year squeeze on dairy farm incomes.

The marketplace omens for the year were not looking good, and the €50 per tonne powder price cut confirmed IFA President Padraig Walshe’s warning of the most serious challenge in 30 years for the Irish dairy industry.

He says there is nothing left to cut on farms, and suppliers will not continue milking cows for little more than the minimum wage.