Dairy farmers pay tribute to those forced to quit sector

More than 3,500 dairy farmers protesting in Brussels have commemorated 157,000 colleagues who had to abandon their dairy farms since 2009.

The members of the European Milk Board (EMB), which includes ICMSA, said EU milk producers cannot cover their production costs, and have to give up.

In Belgium, for example, the wholesale price for a litre of milk is 26 cent but the cost of producing it is 40 cent.

They demand a flexible EU milk supply management — in stark contrast to the EU agreement to phase out its 130 million tonnes annual milk quota system in 2015.

* The Brussels protest took place despite an upward trend in milk prices. The Northern Ireland United Milk auction saw five consecutive monthly auction average increases until last week, when the average fell from 32.46p per litre to 30.28ppl. The most recent Fonterra global dairy trade auction resulted in 0.7% average price increase (small falls for milk powders were offset by a price rise of over 12% for cheddar).

* Dairy advice : pages 10-11

* Cash flow critical in dairy farm expansion: pages 12-13

* Positive outcome in first Glanbia plc spin-out and sale vote: see today’s business pages.