Trebling dairy premium would save smaller farmers

TREBLING the dairy premium would save small to medium dairy farmers who are being forced out of production, said the National Milk Rights Group (NMRG) in a recent submission to the Department of Agriculture and the European Commission.

“Our main proposal is to put a floor under the price of the first 40,000 gallons of milk produced by every dairy farmer,” said NMRG chairman Donie Shine.

He said this could be achieved by trebling the 1.2 cent per litre (5.5 cent per gallon) 2004 Dairy Premium Scheme, which became a decoupled payment in 2005. The NMRG proposal would be worth about €20,000 per farmer. Similar support should be paid for the first 40 suckler cows, said Shine.