Boycott threat after Teagasc testing pull-out

The State advisory service, Teagasc, has become embroiled in another row with farmers, after withdrawing from a scheme being set up by the IFA for independent testing of milk.

A decision by Teagasc at the Moorepark Research Centre in Co Cork not to provide facilities for testing milk from Munster farms has grounded farmers' plans to set up a comparison between independent butterfat and protein tests and those of the milk processors, at least temporarily.

When farmers at Limerick IFA's monthly meeting was told by Richard Kennedy of the IFA National Dairy Committee that Teagasc had pulled out from signing a testing agreement, they called for the immediate withdrawal of all farmer payments to the advisory service. But it was subsequently agreed that Teagasc be given a period of days to reconsider their position.