Milk price cuts to cost farmers €3,000 a year

THE average dairy farmer will lose over than €3,000 a year as a result of decisions taken by Glanbia and Lakeland Dairies to cut the price paid to suppliers for manufacturing milk, the Irish Farmers Association claimed yesterday.

Glanbia plc’s board decided on a reduction of 3 cent a gallon for April and a further 3 cent a gallon for May, while Lakeland Dairies decided on a price cut of 6c a gallon for March.

The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) said it was bitterly disappointed at the decisions which will see Glanbia suppliers’ incomes fall by up to 16% a year and those of Lakeland by 19%.

Glanbia said the decision, while regrettable, is inevitable given the reduction in EU supports and market returns since October, 2005.

Lakeland Dairies said its decision arose from the cumulative effects of the Fischler cuts and ongoing reductions in the prices paid to processors by the Irish Dairy Board.

IFA president Padraig Walshe said the price cuts would have a devastating impact on farmers’ incomes.

He also called for a radical overhaul of Lakeland’s processing efficiencies that were, he said, clearly uncompetitive.

ICMSA president Jackie Cahill said the Glanbia and Lakelands boards had taken the easy and unjust option of cutting the price paid to farmers instead of trying to balance their books out of their resources.